Trapped
by nu shi Yue
Summary: What would happen if a person with no idea in what final fantasy VII is, end up in that very same world? Total chaos for Barret and Cloud! That's what. Cinthia, a normal girl who isn't much into games steps into the world of Final Fantasy by... accident?
1. Chapter 1: The Games Begins

Disclaimer:

I do not own any of the characters nor the story itself of the Final Fantasy VII game!

**Trap**

**By ~Yue~**

"_I never blame you… not once"_

_-Aeris_

Epilogue:

_The only exercise I had ever liked is swimming and is because is the only refreshing exercise for me. So, I wonder for the millionth time… Why the heck am I running, punching, fencing, jumping, hiding, pushing, pulling, and so on? I ran into this very cute boy, but barely cares about anything except his paycheck… if I can call it that, then there's this black muscular with a gun… yes a freaking gun that can shoot, on his arm, with a temper that can get you kill if you don't be careful. His name is Barret by the way. _

_Getting to the point now, I am on a mission on getting back to MY world by helping the Avalanche saving THEIR world from dying. I really don't know what am I doing, and Barret says I shouldn't mess around with __**them (The Shinra Inc.)**__ because it can get me killed and I might ruined their plan (Barret's gang), so they told me that I should stay with Tifa in Seven Heaven bar. Problem is that Tifa is planning to go tomorrow to that very same mission. She seems to have a thing with Cloud. So I'll probably will be babysitting Barret's little girl, Marlene. Yeah… that won't be happening, I already know their plan and I know how to get on a train and find my own way to Shinra Company's tower all I need are the details which they'll be discussing tomorrow morning. I may be a complete normal girl in a really bizarre world with crazy people and creepy monsters, but I won't let that stop me._

Chapter One: The Games Begin

I was mad that evening. My brother was getting ready to leave when he gave me a game and told me to put it in his room. The game was from the PS one, and it read "Final Fantasy VII" There was a blonde guy with a big sword on the cover of the game. I just tossed it and left it on the living room table while I answered to him in my moody-indifferent tone "Sure, when I have the time…". He just turned toward me and gave me the look. He gives me that look every time before lecturing me. I breathed in and got ready for it.

"You know, he's not the last guy in this world. You shouldn't be so gloom because of that idiot." He said while putting on his leather jacket.

"That's easy for you to say, you still got your girlfriend…"I said biting my lips.

"That's because I care about her and I'll do anything for her to keep her smile everyday on and bright… if that bastard didn't even give you an explanation that means his not worth half a cent. So get over him" he went to pick up his keys and before he opened the door he turned to look at me and gave me a smile "You'll meet a guy, who will appreciate you from who you are… so when you meet…" he looked away and he immidiently changed the topic "Hey, you haven't played PlayStation… why don't you play that game over there and if you can manage to get to the 2nd CD… I'll tell you a secret." He winked at me and left for his date… just like that.

All my mind could think was "What secret?" I wanted to punch him, why didn't he finished that other sentence _So when you meet…_ meet what, meet who, how will I meet him, what will happened, what will I do? I know he suck at this kind of Mushy stuff, but why didn't he at least finished the sentences.

I got up, even more upset than before, I took the game on my hand and started to analyze it. I'm not much of a game person, but if it will take HIM off of my mind, I'm all for it. I went to my brother's room and turned on the PS2, it took me a few minutes to realize how to open the game consoler, but I managed. While the game was loading I was taking my sandals off, I somehow tripped and I used the big TV as a support, I saw the screen flash and I suddenly felt all dizzy. There was this strong urged, and I felt like something was swallowing me. It reminded me of the time when I was stuck in a whirlpool in a beach in San Juan Puerto Rico. I was 7 and if it wasn't for my brother I would've drown.

I was now…floating. My eyes were closed, and I felt warm… it felt relaxing floating on nothing. Then, just like that, I was laying down on soft green grass. There was a lot of wind and I had never seen a sky more blue than the one I was under at the moment. I got up, and I started to look around me. I was… I was… I had no idea where I was! There was lot of green grass and in the distance I saw a red house. I followed the path toward it. There was nothing else to do, and I was constantly pinching my right arm as if to wake up, nothing but a small bothering pain.

It took me a while to get there, and suddenly I felt embarrassed. I was wearing a yellow t-shirt which I usually wear to sleep, and black sweat pants. One of my sandals was missing; I couldn't feel any more miserable than that moment. I was constantly repeating helplessly, _is all a dream, is all a dream… _but the earth, the grass, the rocks… it all felt too real.

I finally reached the red house, which it was actually a farm. As I got closer to see if there was anyone that could help me, I heard strange sounds… it belonged to an animal, and when I really look what was _in_ the farm, my mouth felt. They were huge, they were all yellow… they were birds! They were at least two times bigger than me. Now I really wanted to know where I was.

Chapter Two: Wait, What? …Follow the Chocobo?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do NOT own final fantasy VII NOR its characters!

Chapter 2: Wait, What? Follow the Chocobo?

"This doesn't make any sense… where the heck am I?" I said while backing away while hands on head.

I started running away from the farm and I ended up bumping into a young girl with cowboy boots and a pony tail, with hair almost as red as mine. We both felt and the young girl with freckles asked if I was okay. I was in a stage of shock to say anything. All that came out of my mouth was "Where am I?"

The girl was alone in the farm; she said that her grandfather and big brother were away. She was nice enough to invite me for dinner and lend me more appropriate cloths. I told her that I didn't know where I was and asked what the huge birds were outside. She assumed I had amnesia since she couldn't believe the fact that I have never seen or heard of a Chocobo before. On top of that, she didn't know where my home was. She said that I should go to Midgar (A place not far from here) and look for answers there. What could I do, no idea where I was, where this place was… I listened to her.

The next morning, with brown boots and a beautiful yellow with green and pink flower sport dress, I headed myself toward Midgar. When I asked her where exactly was Midgar she told me to follow the Chocobo. I didn't mean to give her my dart look, but I just couldn't believe that she was sending me to a place I have no clue where it was with a big yellow bird as guide.

"Don't worry sweetie, this is a special Chocobo, she'll lead you where you need to go… I'm sure you'll find your family." She smiled.

As I was following this Chocobo for more than half an hour I was trying to figure out where I was… and how I got here. I wondered if I somehow… no I couldn't even think about it, it was absurd, it was impossible and it was crazy. Suddenly the big bird stopped and headed towards me causing me to jump. It went behind me and started pushing me forward; I saw buildings… buildings that were covered by a huge plate. Not to mention it was… cloudy around this city.

"Prk! Prk!" the Chocobo kept pushing me, suddenly it hit me.

"Wait… Don't tell me that's Midgar! I am NOT going there!" but as soon as I said Midgar, the Chocobo ran away from me. "Wait! I didn't mean to yell, come back!" I went after it but that bird was _way_ too fast for me… I had no choice but to go into this strange city.

I entered through a huge gate and when I got deeper into the place… I felt like going into the dumpsters, it even smelled bad. There were mountains of trash: broken woods, steel, cement and things that looked like statues… weird looking statues. There was a weird looking guy sleeping on the floor, but ignored him and kept going. Finally I got into what it looked like civilization: a really creepy market place. There were people sleeping on the floor, sellers harassing and almost begging for someone to buy from them, there was this old lady walking around while looking down on the floor and she even bumped into me. I said sorry and she started to mutter that she needed to be careful where she walked, since you might trip with a corpse. "So dead people on the floor were common here… hehe… he…" I said out loud while trying to laugh, but actually wanting to cry.

" 'Fraid so sweetie! Here in Sector 5 and everywhere in the slums." A familiar voice said besides me, it was the same girl from the farm.

I freaked out when I saw her "What the! If you were coming here why didn't you come with me?" I said screaming at her getting the attention of those who were passing by.

"Shh! I don't know what you're talking about, but lower your voice. You're not from around here aren't you?" she smiled at me. This time her hair was loose and she was dress with a red shirt, black leather jacket, skirt and high heels boots.

"…no." I glared at her.

"Here, take this. Go through that tunnel and follow that woman with her daughter." She gave me a ticket and when I took it while looking towards where she was pointing she just vanished.

Next thing I knew I was sitting in a train, the woman was talking to her daughter and there was this guy laying down occupying four seats and he kept saying "This is my home, make yourselves comfortable" as each person came through the doors near him. Officially, this place was extremely freaky, creepy and crazy.

In the ticket, there was something written in it: _Wait for the last stop_. Sure, why not? I'm in Crazyville, why not follow the instructions?

When I arrived at Sector 7, everyone in the train got off. I thought I was going to be alone in the train when a group of 5 people entered the train. There was a tomboy woman, with brown hair and a red ban around her forehead, a fat guy that looked worried, a man with brown spiky hair that was talking to the woman, a big black man… about 6 feet tall… or more, but his size didn't called my attention… it was the fact that he had a gun on his hand… not that he was holding a gun, _his right hand was the gun_… it freaked me! Then the last guy that entered the train took my breath away… not because he was gorgeous, but because he was the guy that was on the cover of the game my brother gave me. I just stared at him, and again, it hit me… and I had to admit it. What I thought that was absurd, impossible and crazy turn out to be true… I was inside this so call Final Fantasy game.

Chapter 3: You want me to babysit who? … Not happening


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY NOR ANY OF HIS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 3: Follow the leader!

As the blonde guy entered I was speechless. I couldn't believe that I was, somehow, trapped inside a videogame. I stood up abruptly, and the group of five people stared down at me.

"YOU! I know you… you're… you're … you're the blonde dude…" I couldn't say it, I felt dumb… but I couldn't say he was the guy that was on the cover of this game. This may be a game, but surely they would say this is the real world. I just sat back, and just stayed quiet hoping they would just ignore me.

"What the HELL was that? Do you know her?" the big black guy yelled at the blonde one.

"No. First time seeing her." He said smoothly and he went passed me. He headed himself to the next cart.

The rest followed on and the black guy said to the rest of his group "I don't trust him…" while he giving me a short glare. The fat guy went and stopped in front of me, while the rest of the party went on to the next cart. I looked up to him "Um… sorry I didn't mean to say that to him… he just looked like someone I knew… sorry."

"Is okay, but you should get off." And he went on to the next cart.

I was truly speechless, the train started to move again and I was alone in the cart, except for the guy claimed that this train was his home, I was alone. I wanted to cry, and I felt a tear drop.

"Don't cry sweetie." Said a too familiar voice.

"Who are you?" I said holding back tears.

"In true… I'm no one. I'm just someone that was meant to help you. When the cart stops go and follow them, get involve with them… all of them. This is the last time you'll see me, so is all up to you now." She just smiled.

"I don't understand… you want me to get involved with those people. I don't know them; I'm not even a gamer! My brother is! What if they don't even want me to get involved with them?" I said letting my tears drop.

"Sweetie, don't say to anyone that this place is a game. They'll think you're crazy. Second, what if they don't want you around them? That's probably to happen, but just keep following them and see how you can be useful to them. Be persuasive. Thirdly, don't be afraid; the train will stop any minute now and when it does, I'll be gone for sure. When that happens be sure to follow the leader and meet up with them." She winked and somehow I was feeling better.

"Ok…" I suddenly felt bumps up at the ceiling of the train. I looked up.

"The game has started and so I'm to disappear soon…" she said to herself, she looked at me "Well, try to have fun."

"… I'll try." I said

The train began to stop and for some reason I stood up, my heart was bumping hard. I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I looked at the red-hair girl that was looking at me seriously for the first time. "Cynthia dear, if you die here… you'll be found death in your world as well." And she started to vanish right before my eyes 'till she was nothing at all. Now I was truly alone.

The train stopped and I started to look outside the window, I saw the tomboy woman jumped off the train and gave a high massive kicked to one of the security guys; the other guy with brown hair jumped off as well and knocked the other security down. The others started to move forward and finally the blonde guy with spiky hair jumped off and went behind his group, the train moved and I was afraid that it might leave. So I got off the train.

There I saw the blonde guy fighting against two more security guys with a big sword, he slash those two security guys smoothly and when he was finished he ran off. I followed.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own final fantasy or any of its characters!

Chapter 4: I'm a babysitter?

As I was following the blonde guy with spiky hair, I kept seeing security guards with blue uniforms getting slashed by his big sword. I even saw a monster that had a shape of a dog. It attacked the blonde guy, but he dodged its attack and counterattack with a slash cutting smoothly against the creature's skin; the monster disappeared leaving nothing but black smoke behind.

I ran after blonde dude, and finally I saw his group. I was overhearing their conversation.

"Not bad! You were a SOLDIER, huh? Didn't catch your name." said the guy with brown hair.

"Is Cloud." said the blonde guy.

"He's a SOLDIER? Aren't they the enemy?" said the woman while she was still working on something in the gate.

"Hold on Jessie, he WAS with the SOLDIERs. Now he's with us. My name is Bi_"

"I don't care what your name is, I just want finish the job." said Cloud ignoring him completely.

What an ass-hole I though. The gate opened and the black guy appeared.

"What the hell are you doing in group? I said it was dangerous to move in groups!"

"Hey, I want to talk about my paid." said Cloud to the black guy.

"Save it for later!"

Everyone started to move ahead. When I started to move from my hiding place, I heard the black guy say "SOLDIER huh? Don't trust ya." I kept up with the following. And as I entered the place I felt someone grabbing me from behind and knock me down to the floor. I screamed out of fear, and I heard Jessie said to me "This is as far as you go."

"I… I'm sorry!" I was trying not to scream, but this girl was hurting me.

"Who the HELL are you? A Shinra spy aren't you?" He pointed me with his gun.

"NO! Please don't kill me! I'm not a spy! Please I just wanted to help" I said while crying. I was afraid to death and the red-hair girl's words resonated in my head_ If you die, you'll be found death back in your world. _

"What's going on here?" a security guy entered the room with his monster and Cloud went toward him and engaged him. He waved his hand and a bolt of lightning went flying on the security guy and his monster pet.

"Take her ass to the elevator; we're getting her to talk there." Jessie got me up and we started walking.

"Don't try nothin' you might regret" the black guy pointed me with his gun while giving me a nasty look.

Inside the fancy elevator, I was being interviewed.

"Hey! Does she work with the Shinra?"

"I don't know I never seen her before." said Cloud to the black guy.

"Wedge said that she mistake you with someone else on the train." said Jessie.

"I did!" I said getting everyone looks. "I thought he might be someone I knew so I followed. I didn't mean to cause any trouble… and I… I needed a job, so I thought I could be useful to you guys. I'm so desperate for a job I'm willing to do anything. I said trying to hold my tears."

"So what can you do?" said the black guy crossing arms.

I started to think of all sort of stuff I used to do back on my home. "I'm a good cooker, I can clean houses, and I'm an awesome maid!"

Silence and the elevator arrived.

"We don't have time for this shit! Stay with Jessie, you're babysitting Marlene!" and they all started to move out of the elevator. Jessie gave me a small push forward while my mind was analyzing. I'm babysitting who?


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 5: I'm a member of AVALANCHE

I was stuck with Barret and Cloud; they didn't trust me so he needed to keep an eye on me. We arrived at a strange machine, I didn't know what it was, but it was the only thing to see.

"Set up the bomb." said Barret to Cloud

"Shouldn't you do it?" he answered.

"Someone needs to keep an eye on both of you."

For a minute Cloud stared at the machine, and was interrupted by Barret which he was hurrying him. _Wait_! I thought… a bomb? They were planning to blow this place up. Danger doesn't seem to stop with them around. Then, red lights were on and I heard mechanical steps behind me, I turned only to see a huge red metallic scorpion behind us. I did the most logical thing to do: I screamed like crazy idiot.

"What the heck is that?" I said stepping back

Barret started shooting at the huge scorpion while Cloud lunge at it with his sword. They were fighting the thing off, and I was amazed that neither of them weren't death yet. A side of me wanted to run away from there, and another side of me wanted to help. Instead I remained motionless, unable to think straight. Then the scorpion machine lift its tail and it shot a beam at Barret and Cloud, the place was limited, so they couldn't avoid it as easily as its other attacks. For some unknown reason I got up, and I yelled at the machine.

"Hey! Over here, you stupid machine!" I said while waving my hands. I wanted to distract it, unfortunately it work too well; its tail was aiming at my direction. One hit, and I was done for.

"Barret! It's targeting her!" I heard Cloud say.

Barret aimed at the machine and from his gun a big red energy ball was shot. The scorpion thing snoozed for a second and Cloud immediately slashed its tail off by stabbing it with his sword and making a high jump. The machine blew off right there. I dropped to my knees. Cloud ran towards the big machinery and started to set the bomb "We got 10 minutes." _What?_ I said to myself and the running began.

We started running away from the _Reactor_. Security guards with blue uniforms, war machines and monsters appeared out of nowhere while Barret and Cloud were fighting them all off. All I was doing was running and on multiple occasions I was being defended by Cloud, slowing them down and getting Barret real irritated. When we finally got out of the Reactor, the place gave a huge explosion throwing me and Jessie to the floor. Cloud helped Jessie up, and he asked if I was alright and we continued running away from the place which was collapsing. I was exhausted, I tripped again and this time I didn't get up. My heart was beating fast, and everything was turning black… I fainted.

When I opened my eyes, we were all trapped under from what we exploited. I asked where we were and Bigs helped me up and asked if I was okay, and I said yes. Jessie was setting a bomb and everyone was quiet.

"Done, everyone back off" said Jessie, and we all backed away, Barret covered me and I heard a big BOOM. We all started to get out and I was covering my mouth to avoid breathing in the smoke, but still I started to cough anyways. Wedge in the other hand was trying to extinguish the fire that was lighted on his butt. When everyone was settled Barret gave the order to meet up in the hideout and to split up. He shot a look at me and told me to go with Cloud. They all scattered and I gave a shy look to Cloud. He returned it "Let's hurry…" and we left the place.

We were walking and there was a scandal in the city, everyone was running and Cloud and I were trying to get pass by all the people. I saw this young women being pushed by someone that was running at her direction and didn't bother to help her up or apologies, but she just got up and cleaned her pink dress. She stopped Cloud,

"Excuse me, what's going on?" she asked with a really soft and tender voice.

"You should get out of here." said Cloud to her, and I noticed something.

"Okay, I don't know what's going on but I'll leave." She started to walk away and I stopped her winning one of Cloud's look.

"Say, are those flowers? I never seen one like them before, they're so pretty." I said to the women, she was holding a basket full of beautiful flowers.

"It's rare to see them in Midgar…" said Cloud.

"Yes, want to buy one, their just one gil." She smiled softly. I assumed that gil meant dollar where I came from.

Cloud agreed to buy one, and the girl left. She was very pretty and she had beautiful green eyes.

As we walked away from the place, I shyly talked to Cloud.

"So, flowers aren't common here?"

"Haven't you noticed that already?" he asked not looking at me, nor sounding mad.

"No… I've only been here less than a day…" I said, hoping he wouldn't ask where I came from.

"Where are you from?" he asked, crushing my hopes.

"Is not important… and it doesn't matter… I don't see how I can get back." I said half-true and trying to sound it like I'm a runner-away.

He said nothing and as we were walking in an alleyway we heard someone yelled from behind us to stop. Cloud said to keep moving. It was Shinra security guards. We started to walk faster and as we exit the left-side of the alleyway, more security guards, armed and all, were waiting. Cloud immediately ordered me to get behind him and he started to fight them all off. He knocked a few to the floor, slashed some more knocking them down with his sword while blocking himself and me from the all the shooting. They cornered us. They were too many to fight our way out. Suddenly, we heard the whistle of a train. Cloud pushed me forward and I realized that the train was going to come from underneath us.

"Get ready to jump!" Cloud told me so only I could hear.

As soon as I heard him, I lost it. "WHAT? Hell no! I'm not jumping damn it!"

"Yes you are, or we're going to die here."

I looked down and at that precise moment the train passed "Ah… I rather die" but Cloud lifted me and we both jumped.

As you can expect, Cloud landed with no trouble at all. On the other hand I began to rolled backwards, getting really hard hits on my left arm and leg and if it wasn't because Cloud grabbed my right arm I would've fallen off the train. I was now fighting against the wind cause by the train's speed. I felt something liquid dripping in my face… it was blood I was bleeding. I touched it to clean it off and then I noticed that I had broken a nail.

"Bloody hell… I broke a nail." Was all that I could comment, but really… all I wanted to do was to insult Cloud to death and beat him up with a bat… I gave him my dart look.

_Thank you very much from all that have been reading my fanfic. I'm trying really hard to get to the good stuff, where the protagonist starts fighting for once and starts getting Barret (and later on) Vincent irritated. Please if you like this fanfic, review it to know how am I doing and if is worth something. Is my very first fanfic, so don't be too harsh ^^' . _


	6. Chapter 6

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING OF FINAL FANTASY OR HIS CHARACTERS

Chapter 6: Seven Heaven Bar

I'm amazed to tell, that I survive a jump on top of a moving train no thanks to Cloud. My wound was treated; I learned a little history of why the AVALANCHE blew up the reactor own by the Shinra. The reactor that was destroyed was draining the energy from the Earth in order to gain power. In other words, they're the bad guys, enough said.

Seven Heaven Bar was the AVALANCHE hide out. There I met Tifa and after a long interrogation, I was accepted for the job: Babysitting Barret's little girl. Marlene is adorable, but… I'm not good with children; I accepted the job because I needed to get involve with them in order to get back to my world. This was my analyzing for the game: The Shinra are the bad guys, the Avalanche are the good guys, Cloud is the protagonist of this story… the end of the game must be when Cloud and his gang defeat Shinra, right? Yes, of course I'm right. Conclusion: My job is to get to that goal sooner than expected, and when the end is reached, I'm going back home.

This was my plan as I showered and got in the clothes Jessie lend me (a cargo cream pants, a black, long sleeve shirt and a green T-shirt on top of the black shirt). I sneaked into their meeting, where Cloud and Barret were in the middle of a discussion…

"I want to talk about my money…" and he went pass me, not even looking at me, then Barret went out of controlled, and Biggs was holding him… he ended up flying out of Barret's way. I also left the room, I felt… like I didn't belong there.

…

As I sat on the stares outside the bar, I noticed… that there was no sky. Just like Barret said on the train, this place, Midgar, was covered by a huge plate. This was a very sad place… not to be able to see the sky, or the sun or the stars. Not to mention this place was a dump as well. Then I overheard Tifa's voice.

"So, you did forget our promise…" she said in a sad tone. I peek to over hear them.

They talked a lot in past tense, they had a past… a romantic past maybe.

"I didn't become famous; I can't keep our promise…" Cloud said in a distant tone.

"But you got into SOLDIER…"

I couldn't hear much… I was too far away from them… and I didn't want to either. I stood up, stretched, and headed myself inside, only to find out that Cloud changed his mind about leaving. He was going to participate in tomorrow's mission as well. Somehow… I felt that he wasn't doing this for the money… the money was just an excused… he was doing it for Tifa. They really do have a past.

…

I didn't sleep a wink last night. I got up right after the clock turn 5, and I headed towards the kitchen. I was hungry, and then I realized, that I haven't eaten anything since I was in that farm. I wanted to cook myself something, but I didn't dared, so I just sat on the dark empty bar.

I hoped for this day, to be the day that I could go back home, I missed my home. I began to cry…

"Homesick aren't you?" said a familiar voice, Tifa's.

"No… not at all." I lied cleaning my tears.

"It's normal you know, Cloud told me that you ran away… but why come here?" she sat next to me.

"It… was the only place to go… didn't have much of a choice… and I don't like talking about this stuff." I said trying to end the conversation.

"I see… do you know how to fight?"

"… No. Where I came from, having fighting skills is not necessary. Is enough to have a loud mouth…" I said, remembering good times.

"Well, in this place, if you don't have fighting skills, it can get you brutally killed, in the worst cases… and in the best cases, get mug by a few thieves. "

"I noticed… but what can I do?" I said hoping for fighting lessons.

"Hmm… you seem to kind for hand in hand combat… I think it would be best if you get an easy weapon to handle." She got up and started looking for something in the kitchen… when she got back; she had a brown leather belt.

"Here… this is a combat knife, start practicing with it today after we leave. If you go to the next building right in front of this bar, you can find someone to help you with simple lessons, if you want go now… but please get back here before we leave."

"Ok…" I said taking the belt. When I started exiting, Tifa ordered me to put on the belt. I did.

…

Lessons, or brutally get bullied by teenagers! I mean I'm a teenager too, but this is outrageous!

"Hey! Get up, you wimp! Didn't you say you wanted to learn how to defend yourself?"

"I did! But this is crazy! You just pushed me of the ring and throw sand at me!"

"So? You're lucky is not fire!" another teenager enjoying the show said.

Here, maybe this will bump you up! *Slap!* Right on my butt. I got up furious, nobody, touches anything of me!

"Then prove it sweetie, scratch me once if you can… "he pulled out a short sword from his back "No more Mr. Nice Guy, for you"

I lunged at him and right with my knife on hand, but when he started to swing that sword at me… I backed off! Winning a few laughs from the ones watching the show. "Coward!" someone yelled, the kid I was fighting with kicked a rock which landed on my forehead, as I try to get away from him. I landed on my butt, the kid approached… he was going to swing that sword at me for real. "The only way for you to learn is with scars; allow me to be the first one to_"

"That's enough!" Someone yelled… it was Cloud.

He got behind me and pulled me up, and told me to follow him. I left the place and heard a few more laughs.

"Don't ever get into a fight if you're not willing to hurt your opponent." Cloud told me with a soft voice. "Those people, they teach with pain, if you're not careful, you might end up in need of medical attention."

"I noticed, but I need to learn to defend myself… "I said sounding very unlike me.

"Then asks Jessie for lessons, you're… too soft." Great, I'm too soft. "When you started lunging at the boy… why did you stopped? You were mad, weren't you?" Oh, he was watching the scene too.

"I stopped… because I… I didn't want to hurt the boy… I mean, stabbing someone for touching my butt, is just not right."

"The first reason why you should ask Jessie for lessons…" we got back to the bar.

Apparently I was missed…

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU? WE HAVE TO GO, AND I HIRED YOU TO TAKE CARE OF MARLENE WHEN WE LEAVE. MEANING YA' HAVE TO BE HERE DOING YOUR JOB!" Barret yelled at me sweetly. Get my sarcasm.

"I'm sorry, but I'm here now." You don't have to pay me if you don't want.

"GOOD BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT GETTING ANY!"

"Barret calm down! I send her to train and we aren't leaving right now… you still need to ask Cloud that favor."Tifa said to calm him down.

"I know, but… Never mind, hey! What was your name again?" Barret asked me in moderate tone.

"It's Cynthia."

"Cynthia, ya' take care of my Marlene or no pay!" he turned to Cloud and he asked him about something called material.

When he began to explain, Cloud told me to pay attention as well. He explained stuff I didn't quite get… but when he handed a green ball to Tifa I saw the ball dissolved into her… arm? No, it dissolved into her armor. After Material tutorials concluded, I realized that they were going to leave.

When they left, Marlene went shyly behind me… "Material are to summon magic right?" I looked at her, and she just smiled.

"Marlene? Who used to take care of you when your daddy and his friends went to… work?" I asked bending down to be level with her, she was so cute!

"No one, I took care of the bar" she said proudly.

"So, you know how to take care of yourself then?"

"Yes!"

"Marlene, you're very sweet and cute and smart, but I can't take care of you, because I have to help your daddy and his friends bring the bad guys down, so can I leave and you'll be safe?"

"Okay, be careful Miss Cynthia." She was definitively cute.

I left to follow them, but first… I needed information and transportation. I knew where to get them… too soft huh?

_Hey, sorry that I took so long with this chapter, finals where in the way. I hope this chapter is worth it, I was trying to be loyal to the game, but I might need to change a few events. Cynthia is going to fight for now on, and the characters (finally) are going to be involved with her. If you like this fanfiction, please review! Million thanks! _


	7. Chapter 7

DISCLAMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 7: The Sacred Garden

Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie were probably on the train to Sector 5; so am I. It wasn't easy, but morning beat down was worth it. I was in the Cargo area, to get here… well I tell you in the future, it's a pretty embarrassing event.

_Intruder alert!_

Red lights were on and someone came into the cargo area. "Search this place as well!"

I hoped to be near Sector 5, as the blue uniform soldier came closer, and closer and closer… _Sector 5 _the intercom announced. I got this idea… I pushed all the boxes I used as hideout, and bang, they felt on top of the soldier. I ran from that place, right outside the cart "Hey you! Halt!" I started climbing the stairs, and when the train stopped, I felt, and started crawling towards the other end of the cart and when I reached it, I ran from that place.

I may not be able to fight, but I have seen a lot of action movies with my brother and… someone else. I looked for the reactor, and I couldn't find it as soon as I hoped. Then I as I passed red uniform soldiers I overheard the name Avalanche, and I decided to followed them.

…

Well, I found the Avalanche… but not the way I planned. I saw Barret furious look on his face while I was bent down to my knees, surrounded by red uniform soldiers.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Barret yelled.

"Is a trap…" Cloud said.

"I'm sorry guys, but you must get away from here, they're sending a_"

"Shut hell up!" a soldier hit me with the back of his gun, but I needed to warn them, they were sending a Machine at them, and that they knew everything about their plan…

"Let her go!" Tifa started to say, when some fat red suited man emerged from the other end of the hall.

"It's president Shinra!" Barret said.

"Well, that girl almost ruined my plans, she almost got in my way, but she was just fool, it was very easy to stop her."

"Hey, you! Shut the hell up! We're the Avalanche and don't ya' forget it, we're stopping ya'" Barret started to yelled.

"Oh, right… you must be the vermin that's been giving me trouble" the President of Shinra said with a despicable look on his face. "You are beginning to bore me… so if you excuse me, I have dinner I must attend to."

"What! I've even started with ya'!" Barret began "You're the real vermin, sucking out the planet's life!"

"Not to worried, I arranged a playmate for you" he snapped his finger, and came out the Mahine Soldier I have been trying to warn my friends…

"What's that sound?" Tifa asked, and a big machine with big guns emerged from the opposite end of the reach I was standing. I was then pushed forward, and the red uniform soldier made a run for it, closing the exit behind me.

"Is this from SOLDIER?" Tifa asked with hands ready.

"No, it's just a machine." Cloud said.

"I'm sure the substance from your death bodies will be useful for future experiments…" the president said and a helicopter came to pick him up… and he was gone.

"I don't care what this thing is, but I'm going to trash it!" Barret said and he open fire.

Regardless the shooting behind its back, the robot pointed at me, I stood up…

"Cynthia, move out of the way!"Cloud yelled at me from the other end.

I pulled out my knife… and it shot two rockets at me, I moved instantly forward causing an explosion behind me and sending me closer to the robot. I was doomed, I though.

Cloud then made a high jump and it slashed the robot with his sword, landing besides me. "Stand up, don't hesitate or it will kill you…" I stood up, with knife ready. Tifa started giving a few punches and kicks at the machine, she was amazing. All I could do is dodged its attacks.

Suddenly Barret shot a red ball of energy at it, and Cloud stabbed his sword inside the machine and slashed it. The machine began to malefaction and… it blew. I would've fallen but Cloud hold me as he was also holding the end of the broken bridge. He was trying to pull me up… but he couldn't… it hit me then.

"Cloud let go! We're both going to fall!" I said to him, but he ignored me.

"Barret isn't anything you can do?" Tifa said holding herself not to scream.

"Not a damn thing! Hey, I'm sorry for this…" Barret began

"Don't say it like this is the end!" Cloud yelled.

"Cloud! You can't die, there's still so much more I want us to talk about!"Tifa yelled at him.

"I know…" Cloud started to pull us up, "Cynthia hold on tight! You're sleeping!"

"I know, but if I don't let go, we're going to fall as well, so just let go of me!"I said tears falling down my cheeks.

"Shut up! Stop talking like this is the end!" he shouted at me, I couldn't believe it; he didn't think he was going to die anytime soon… I hold on tight, but the reactor blew causing both Cloud and me to fall… as we both felt… Cloud pulled me close to him and he hugged me. The rest… was in blank...

…

A beautiful small garden was in my head, I was comfortable, warm, but everything was dark…

"Oh! It moved!" a women's voice echoed in my head.

Aren't I dead, but can the dead smell… there was a strong scent of flower, I sneezed. I open my eyes and I realized that Cloud broke my fall with his body.

"Oh my God! Cloud!" I screamed and stood up.

"Are you okay?" the same voice said. I look behind me and there she was… it was the flower girl from before.

"Yes, I am, but what about Cloud?" I sat beside him and began to poke him to see if he weren't… dead. "Oh, please don't die!" he moved. "Oh God! Thank you!"

"He's alive, the roof and the flower bed must've broken your fall" the flower girl said. "You really scared me…"

I looked at her, "I'm sorry, we didn't mean to, but say, what is this place?" I look at the beautiful garden and I remembered that Cloud told me that flower don't bloom in Midgar.

"It's a sacred place…" she trailed off and glanced at Clouds direction. Cloud was waking up.

"Cloud, you're okay?" I said to him.

"Yes…" he started sitting up "Where are we?" he glance the place.

"This is a church in the slum; the flower bed broke your fall…" said the flower girl.

"Oh… sorry." He moved from the flowers.

"So, we meet again." She smiled tenderly.

"Um…" he put his fingers on his forehead "oh, yes you were selling flowers."

Small laugh, "You remember me! Thank you for buying a flower from me… They say, you can't grow flower or grass here at Midgar, but the flowers seem to have no problem blooming here."

"So, maybe this is a sacred garden… I mean these flowers are so beautiful." I said.

"Maybe it is, say I feel like talking, are you two up for it?" she smiled at us.

"Sure!" Cloud and I said at the same time.

The flower girl laugh, "Okay let me check on my flowers to see if they're alright, it'll take just a sec" and she did. I went to help her as well, my mom did have a garden back in my world, so I knew a little bit about flowers as well.

When we were finished we began introduction.

"My name is Cynthia."

"Mine is Cloud."

"Well, I'm Aeris, I am very pleased to meet you both. So what do you do for work?"

"I do a little bit of everything" Cloud said.

"Oh, a talent of all traces" she laughed.

"Yeah, I do whatever's needed" he said.

Yes, like blowing up a reactor for example, I though and laugh.

"How about you Cynthia?"

"Oh, I…" I didn't want to say it, but I did. "I'm a babysitter." Aeris started laughing at lot. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing!"she smiled at me. "Oh." The laughing stopped, there was a suited guy in the entrance, and we all stared at him. His hair was the same color as mine: red.

"Say, Cloud have you ever been a bodyguard? You _do_ do a little bit of everything"

"They aren't your friends aren't they?" I said.

"No. So, would you be my bodyguard?"

"Okay, but it'll cost you." Cloud said.

"Okay, what if I go out with you once."

Cloud blush a little, but pretended. "Okay."

He started walking towards the red-hair dude, and I started grabbing firmly to my knife, this was going to get ugly.


	8. Chapter 8

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY OR ITS CHARACTERS

Chapter 8: Cloud? In a dress? No way… Yes Way!

"Who are you?" the red-hair guy asked with a careless look on his face.

"That uniform… I know you… your from the Turks." Cloud said to him "You should leave" he grabbed his sword.

The guy from the Turks began approaching, but Aeris ran towards the back door.

"Don't fight here! You might damage the flowers! Cynthia, Cloud, this way!" and we followed.

I came to a stop at front of a huge hole, Cloud just jumped to the other side "What are you waiting? Come on!" It was then when I saw blue uniform soldiers along side with the red-hair dude; they aimed their gun at us.

"The Ancient is getting away!" one of the blue uniform soldiers said and they fired.

"Aeris! Watch out!" I pushed her out of the way and we both felt in the hole which it lead us back to the first floor. We began rolling down and landed on our butts. For me, pretty painful, but nothing compared to the one at the moving train.

" Are you okay Aeris?" I helped her up "Come on, we got to get out of here…" one of the soldier was blocking our ways and I instinctively pulled out my knife "Stay away from us!" my hands were shaking, and I couldn't stop them. The soldier shot a laugh at me, and Aeris called for Cloud.

"Cynthia! Fight them!" Cloud yelled down at me. Well that's easy for you to say!

"Let's do our best Cynthia." Aeris stood beside me now. I lunged, missed, the soldier gave a mocking smile, he pointed his gun at me, but I kicked him on his leg, and that's when Aeris hit him on his head with her pole. We knocked him out and made a run for it. Then another soldier followed us and just as he reached us, Cloud let a barrel dropped on top of the soldier, we reached once more at front of the same hole and Aeris made a jump. I just stared at it, but I couldn't jump. I was definitively going to fall once more. "Cynthia you can do it, jump!" Aeris shouted at me. I decided then to try, I went back to get impulse and I ran as fast as I could, when I reach the hole I jump towards the other side and I felt at Aeris feet. She helped me up and we kept moving forward. We ended up on top of the Church roof.

"They came back… hahaha" I Aeris said, almost to herself.

"You mean is not the first time they're after you?" Cloud asked.

"No… "

"Why? There must be a reason."

"No, not really… they just think I have what it takes to be in SOLDIER"

"What? You in soldiers?" I asked "Why would they think that?" I asked.

"I don't know." Aeris said smiling

"Say, Cloud? What exactly are the Turks? That's what you called them back there?"

"They're a secret organization owned by the Shinra, they dedicate to do all sort of dirty work like spying, recruiting soldiers, killing, stuff like that." Cloud said to me and for the first time I noticed something in his eyes… his eyes… they glowed abnormally. "We should go."

"Right, take me home my bodyguard" Aeris stood up smiling.

"Okay."

…

We passed Sector 5's market place, and I couldn't help it.

"Hey Cloud…" I called him a little shy.

"What?" he turned to look at me.

"Can I see your eyes?" I blushed a little.

He began wondering "You want to see my eyes?" he had such a serious face "Why?"

"Um… it's just… " I started blushing a lot "You have a strange glow in your eyes… and I was just curious… Oh, never mind_" I began when Aeris spoke.

"Is the mark of the SOLDIER" she smile "You're in SOLDIER, right Cloud?"

"Rather I used to be, but how did you know that?" Cloud asked Aeris.

"Oh… Nothing." She answered.

"Nothing?" I asked stealing the words from Cloud.

"Right… " she turned to me "…Nothing. Let's keep walking, my house is close." She began to hurry us.

…

Aeris' mom was really nice, even though she asked us to leave without telling Aeris. She asked us if we were hungry and served us something called Korean B.B.Q, I didn't know what it was but it was really good. Cloud told me that I ate very "unlady" like. I didn't care how long was it since I last ate anything at all? Who knows, lucky I hadn't fainted. When I was done I helped Aeris' mom with the dishes, it was the least I could do.

Cloud and I shared a room he offered to sleep on the floor so I could take the bed, but I told him that I was used to sleeping on the floor, all I needed was a blanket. I lay down and began closing my eyes while Cloud was saying that they were going to leave as soon as Aeris felt asleep. _I_ felt asleep, I was really tired.

I dream something really weird like, I was in the air thanks to some sort of huge airplane, and there was someone at the entrance of that very same airplane. I started to look for Aeris and Cloud.

"What are you looking for?" a deep husky voice asked me… it was coming from someone who was emerging out of a entrance and he went towards me, even though he wore strange clothing and had a very scary atmosphere, I didn't back up. He wore a red cape, and black clothing, he had long black hair and yellow eyes. He stood next to me.

"Where's Cloud and Aeris?" I asked him even though I didn't know if he knew them, but he just gave me a shocked look.

"Cynthia, are you ok?" he asked me. I was really surprised that he knew my name, but still I didn't really care.

"Yes, why?"

"Cynthia, Aeris is dead… and Cloud… he's missing."

"What!"

Someone kicked me, and I woke up. When I open my eyes Cloud was looking down at me. "What?" I asked while rubbing my face and stretching.

"I must've fallen asleep… let's go, before Aeris wakes up" he whispered down at me. And as I tidied the bed Cloud used and the Blankets I used, we silently sneaked down stairs and we were out of the house.

…

Well, we did tried to get away from Aeris, but apparently she saw through our plans and caught up to us in Sector 6. I started laughing at Cloud, because apparently Aeris wasn't the type of girl that liked being protected 24/7. The ironic part is that she DID hired us for protection in the first place. When we reached a park down at Sector 6, we decided to rest. We climbed up to a funny looking animal like slide and Aeris and Cloud started talking… once again I felt like I didn't belong.

"So, what rank were you?" Aeris asked Cloud.

"Hmm? Oh, I was… in First Class."

"Hmm… same rank as him…"

"As who?"

"My first boyfriend."

"Oh… were you serious?"

"… " She shook her head "No, but I liked him for a while"

"So that's why you know so much about SOLDIERs. " I really didn't want to hear about couples issues… it reminded me of the reason why I agree to play this game, that it was now… my world until I see the end to this.

"Yes …Cynthia I know Cloud has Tifa, but do you have someone special?" Aeris giggled and I swear I saw Cloud cough and blushed a lot, after all he did admit to Aeris that "Tifa from the Seven Heaven bar" was his girlfriend.

Still I couldn't believe this, she was asking me if I had a boyfriend "Nope, and I don't want to know about them either." I sigh "nothing but a bunch of lies… piece of advice Cloud: be honest to Tifa when_" Cloud actually kicked me and I ended up sliding down until I landed on my butt… for the one-hundredth time. I was going to lose my butt in this world if I kept falling like this. "What was that for!" I yelled at Cloud, and I couldn't believe it, he was blushing. Aeris was laughing a lot and then, the gates to go to Sector 7 were opening and a chocobo with a carriage was emerging, when it began to turn…

"TIFA?" Cloud and I said at the same time.

"Is that Tifa? Let's follow." And Aeris jumped and went ahead.

"Aeris, wait!" he put his hand on his for head in disbelief "Cynthia, come on." He jumped and I followed.

…

I couldn't believe where we were asking for direction, a hot spot for… well, for boys who want to have fun… Apparently Tifa was going to an interview for a Don Corneo dude that was in search of a bride. Now this was sick, there was also a low life punk hitting on me whom I kicked for the seventh time, but this time I knee kicked him where it hurts! He was creeping me out and I was getting tired of that.

"Let's go." Cloud said.

What was Tifa up to? Was she crazy? I mean, this guy sounded like a perverted idiot with power, I mean look at this mansion. It was extremely creepy and the guy guarding the entrance weren't going to let us in anytime soon.

"Get lost, Don Corneo don't like men! … Say, but you have two cute girls there, what do ya' say honey" he lunged a look at me and Aeris.

"Ew! No thanks!" I said but Aeris covered my mouth.

"Actually we need a minute… we're be right back." She winked at the guy, and he had arrogant smile on his face.

When we were far away from creepy guy number 27th Cloud and I started interrogating Aeris.

"Aeris, have you lost it? I'm not going in there to participate for a selection of brides! If I'm going there is to get Tifa out as fast as possible… "

"And I'm not going to let you girls go alone, is a really dangerous place!" Cloud began.

"But Cloud you do want to save Tifa, we going together and Cynthia, is the only way to get in, nothing like that is going to happen."

"No, I have to go with you… but being a man is going to be troublesome. We can make a ruckus and… What's so funny?"

Aeris was having a good laugh "Cloud… why don't you dress like a girl?"

"What? No_" too late Aeris went ahead and well, the plan was made.

"Come on Cloud; let's get you a cute dress!" Aeris said going ahead of us while_ I_ was having myself a really good laugh.

…

_Well, next chapter is going to rock! I assure you, I'll try to make it as funny as it can get ;) Thank you everyone who is reading my fanfiction. If you like it, please leave your review, is more than welcome ;) _


	9. Chapter 9

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 9: Don Corneo's Mansion and a new Reality

Cloud looked so cute… it was so wrong but still he was wearing a dress and wig all for Tifa. As we entered Don Corneo's Mansion the guy over at the counter told us not to wander off while he went to inform his master of our presences. It was then that we began plotting.

"So Miss Cloud, where could Tifa be?" I asked Cloud.

"Don't call me that!" Cloud whispered angrily at me.

"Miss Cloud, speak more nicely or our plan may be ruined." Aeris said in a really gentle voice, but she was really teasing him.

"That's enough! Let's find Tifa now!" and he took the stairs right next to us and went on ahead without us. I and Aeris were having a really good time together.

"Wait up Miss Cloud." I said following up to him along side Aeris.

We entered a dark room and right ahead was Tifa with a tight blue dress that shows her curves, very provoking for a man. She was really attractive. As soon as Cloud got near her he look at his violet kimono and back away hiding his face. Aeris and I caught up and I asked what was wrong and Aeris went ahead to talk to Tifa.

"Excuse me; are you Tifa from Seven Heaven?" Aeris asked.

"Yes, who are you… oh, wait… you're the girl that was with Cloud down over at the park in Sector 6."

"Yes, but don't worry, is nothing, we're just friends" she said in a very cheery mood.

"What do you mean don't worry? Oh, wait don't misunderstand, we're just childhood friends is nothing." Tifa said firmly.

"Oh poor Cloud, having to hear us calling him nothing!" Aeris giggled.

"Cloud?"Tifa shot a glance at Cloud with a confused face, she got near him to look at his face clearly and she jumped in disbelief "Cloud! Why are you dress like that? What are you doing here? What happened after you felt from the reactor tower? Are you hurt?" she lunged a wave of questions at Cloud and I couldn't help but to giggle as well.

"Tifa! Give me a break to answer your questions: I'm dress like this because there was no other way to get in here. Yes, I'm okay and I'm not hurt, but most importantly; what are _you_ doing here in a place like this?" Cloud said keeping his cool.

"After you felt at Sector 5, there was this weird guy around, so Barret squeezed some information out of him and that's when the name Corneo popped. Still something kept bothering me…" Tifa explained.

"So you wanted to hear the story straight from Corneo's mouth."

"Exactly." Tifa confirmed "Everyday, Corneo pick three girls and he chooses… in this case… " she glance a look at me "four girls and out of them he chooses one to be his bride."

"Well, that's incredibly stupid! What kind of sick bastard is he?" I asked disgusted.

"Well, yes, but the point is, I must be that girl tonight."

"I don't think there is any need to ask, but… the fourth girl… is me, isn't it?" Cloud asked ashamed.

"… … Your right Cloud, there was no need… "

"… to ask." Aeris finished Tifa's sentence while I was giggling.

I heard steps getting closer and it was the guy at the counter "Don Corneo will see you now, follow me." He went on mumbling to himself "I tell you woman nowadays don't listen…"

…

We were at front of the ugliest fat blonde old man in the universe, and he was looking at us with such an arrogant stupid smile while "analyzing" us. I couldn't be more disgusted then.

"Now then, I had made my choice." He began " And the winner is… … … … This little beauty!" he pointed at Tifa.

"Fu Fu Fu… Oh Don Corneo, I'm flattered." Tifa acted.

Yes, fu fu fu… in Spanish if you change the 'u' to a 'o' it says "fo" meaning in English "GROSS!"

"Boys you can have the rest." Perverted Rich Bastard said to his boys.

_WHAT! He's kidding right… no he is not. *Gulp* _His boys took Aeris, me and Cloud and we got separated_. _I wanted to cry, scream and run away from this creepy place, but instead I was taken inside a creepy room full of empty beer bottles, trash all over the place and a drunken guy inside the room. He was scary looking and had a perverted look on his face. "Hey, Don Corneo sent us a gift! You can have this one!" and I was pushed inside the room and the guy looked like he was high as he lunge a slow look at me.

"Don't worry honey, we'll have lots of fun." He had a stupid laugh too.

"Look, I have to be somewhere else." He was getting close to me "So, I'll leave you, and hope… " he was close "to never see you again" from under my dress I pulled my knife.

"Oh' armed aren't you?" another stupid laugh "This is going to be fun" he lunged at me and I ran sideways making him missed me. This guy was serious! He ordered me to stay still, _yeah, as if._ But this time he grabbed my ankle, I felt, I kicked him where it hurts, and I crawled away from him. I grab one of the bottles and bang! I hit him on his head breaking the bottle along the way.

Surprise, surprise this guy head was made of steel. "You're pay for that honey cup." He was angry now. I had no choice; he grabbed my waist with both of his hands and… I stabbed him on his right arm, he screamed. I step on his feet using my heel, and I pushed him… he felt and a bunch of boxes felt on him. I ran towards the door now and I got out and I almost bump into Cloud (He wasn't wearing no kimono, no wig).

"CLOUD! THERE'S A PERVETED GUY OVER THERE WHO WANTS TO HAVE SEX WITH ME!" meaning help.

I don't know how, but creepy guy number 68th was made of steel, he went out of the room to go after me, _crazy idiot!_ "What! Who are you?" that's when Cloud went to beat him up. Creepy guy number 68th was down, _finally._

"I'm going to look for Aeris, change to your clothes behind that statue." He gave me my stuff and a green ball; I followed his orders.

I changed to, now, my cream cargo pants, I unzipped the dressed, I took it off and I put on my black shirt as fast as possible, I threw the dress and the high heels behind me, not planning on taking them with me at all, I put on my belt, cleaned the blood on my knife using the dress, and finally I put on my green T-shirt and my brown boots. I went out of hiding and I Aeris called out to me. I went towards her.

"Let's hurry, Cloud went ahead."

"Right… "

…

Don Corneo was being threat by Aeris, Cloud and Tifa. I was just watching and backing them up.

"Answer us or… I'll cut _them _off." Cloud threaten him.

"Ooh! That must be painful for you!" I said.

"Oh no! Not that! …" he spilled the first beans.

Another question…

"Answer us or …I'll rip_ them_ off." Aeris threaten.

"Wow, that sounds like a lot of pain." I said.

"Oh no! Not that! …" he spilled the second beans.

Last Question…

"Tell us or… I'll SMASH _them_. "Tifa threaten.

"Oh my goodness, no more sex for you." I said hoping it happens. Yes, I hated the guy, but it was only fair.

"Oh, you guys are serious, aren't you? Ok, I'll talk: Shinra is planning to take out the AVALANCHE by breaking the pillars in Sector 7… everyone will die with a big BANG! I'm just glad is not here in Sector 6… "Don Corneo said.

"What?" Tifa was shocked "Oh no, Barret and everyone else, we have to warn everyone at Sector 7!"

"Let's go!" Cloud and everyone began to move out, but Don Corneo stopped us.

"Why do you think I released all that information…? " Don Corneo gave three options and Cloud chose number two.

"Because you're sure to win." And he was right… unfortunately, he pushed a bottom, and we all felt through a trap door.

…

We landed on water, I got up and the water reached half my legs. It stunk here like shit. I was wet with these waters as well. "Where are we?"

"Oh no! We have to get to Barret and the others!" Tifa began saying.

"What's that sound?" I asked noticing some kind of growl… and it happen. Something inside the waters uncovered itself. "Aaaahhh! …. What the hell is that?" I screamed echoing the place with my scream and the fight began. It was the most hideous thing I have ever seen and we have to fight it in order to survive.

Cloud lunged at it with his sword, slashing it with his special techniques, Tifa was backing him up with her Martial Art combos attacks, kicks, punches, sidekicks, upper kicks, somersault … I stabbed the monster numerous times winning a vicious growl from it, and the last time I stabbed it, he use the waters to knocked me out and it cause me to hit myself with the place's walls. I was completely socked now and I couldn't hate the beast more. Cloud hit the finishing blow, he slashed the beast several times, hit him with lighting and stabbed him with his sword cutting half of its body… the monster disappeared into black smock.

"It's too late to warn the others now… "Tifa said in a depress tone.

"…" Cloud said nothing.

"Don't lose hope yet! Never lose hope! We still have time!" Aeris said denying it was the end "Is not easy to break the pillars, right?"

"… Right!" Tifa said, regaining hope almost instantly.

"Then, we hurry." Cloud said. And we did.

…

I figured that we were in the sewers, this place was disgusting and it smelled horrible. I was also completely socked with its waters. As I was complaining the whole way, I was getting Cloud irritated. I didn't notice this until he had it with me. We were at the end of the tunnel and my last complain was about this place being covered with shit.

"It's a sewer! What did you expect!" Cloud turned to me so fast that he scared me, but his tone… he was really mad. "Look! You shouldn't be here to start with! Your job was supposed to be you babysitting Marlene, and yet here you are! You ditched your work, you somehow made out of Sector 7, you transported yourself to Sector 5, and you came to us as prisoner, _not dead_, with Shinra soldiers. How? I don't really care. Why? I could care less. But right now more important things are happening and your stupid complains are holding us back. Cynthia, I don't know where you from and why you ran away, and frankly I don't care, but I don't need to care to know that you were treated like a princess in your house, and you're reasons to run away must've been stupid ones, I just hope they weren't dumb." The only one that have ever talked this way to me… was my brother. "So, Cynthia… if you can't take the heat, get out of the oven. Not everything is like you want it to be, nothing is incline to happen the way you plan it, people with worst fate than yours exist and I could bet they're happier than you, grow up Cynthia." He turned and climbed the stairs to exit this place.

Tifa turned as well supporting Clouds points. I was… speechless. There was a nude in my throat, I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, and I wanted to drown myself with the waters that surrounded me. No tears came out, I was trembling. My heart was pounding so hard it hurt my chest. I saw Aeris hand reaching my shoulders, but I escape them "I'm alright, I'm fine, just go with Cloud!" I said so fast I wondered if she understood me, but she did. I was using my wet hair to cover my miserable face. I looked up, and I was alone in this sewer.

I was so mad, not because of Cloud's words, but because he was right. A game was telling me the truth clearer than water… clean water. No, not a game, a character from this game… he saw the selfishness I could never see with my own eyes. It was then that I realized… this place was also real. I noticed for the first time, that Cloud wasn't animated… he was a real person. His skin was real, his hair was real, his clothes were real, _his feelings_ were real, and he was as real as me. He wasn't a bunch of numbers… Tifa, Aeris, Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, Barret, Marlene, the dangers, the streets, the heat, the cold, these waters, these clothes, the pain… were all real. I lifted my head…

_She has two minutes or we'll leave her._ I heard Cloud said.

… I pulled my wet hair away from my face, and I only let _one_ and only one tear out… and it was the last I would allowed out. Cloud was right, and I wasn't going to allowed myself to be a huge bump in their way. The material that Aeris gave me back at Corneo's place was shinning on my left hand and I felt for the first time strong and I was grateful for Cloud's harsh words.

I climb from that place, and we moved towards Sector 7.

…

_Thanks to everyone who be reading my fanfiction, I enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope that the next ones can be cooler than this one ;) Please if you like, you must review. _


	10. Chapter 10

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

_Apologies, for my lateness, but I had a huge writer's block last week regarding this story. _

Chapter 10: Sector 7 is Gone

We made it to Sector 7; it was still standing when we got there. We got to the pillars, and there was a lot of fire gun going on top of the pillars. Suddenly, someone have fallen from all the way up there… it was Wedge.

"Wedge, are you alright?" Cloud said, with a worried look in his eyes.

"Cloud…you…remember my… name… ha..ha… Barret… is up there….g-go…help him" he went unconscious.

"Aeris! Take care of Wedge." Cloud began to say.

"Cloud, I'll go look for Marlene. I'm gonna take her out of this place!" I said to Cloud knowing if it was Shinra's plan to take Sector 7 out, this place would become a very dangerous place to be. "I'll take her away from Sector 7!" I took off without knowing if Cloud agreed.

I started for the Seventh Heaven bar, and when I got in I saw Marlene, hiding behind the bar. "Marlene, is me, Cynthia!" and she immediately got out of hiding.

"Miss Cynthia! The bad guys are attacking the pillars!" she said with a worried look on her face.

"I know, but Cloud, Tifa and Barret are going to stop them. In the mean time, we got to get out of here!" she nodded and we took off hand in hand.

As I was exiting Sector 7, I heard Aeris voice calling me from behind and I turned.

"Cynthia! Where are you taking the little girl?" Aeris asked.

"I don't know… maybe Sector 5… is far away from Sector 7." I said impatiently.

"Is quite dangerous, Tifa asked me to help you… let's go to my house, is safe there."

We both were heading now towards Sector 6 and we encountered a couple of monsters, we both took care of them. Suddenly in Sector 5's entrance was a marine blue suited man with long black hair. He looked… dangerous. I told Marlene to hide behind me. "Turks…" I said out loud.

"Tseng… please let us through." Aeris said with her calm voice.

"I will, but you must come with us if you don't want your friends injured." He said with a negotiation tone.

Aeris was about to agree, but I cut her off "That's not going to happen!" I gave Marlene to Aeris and pulled my knife out.

"Cynthia, don't… he's too strong for you."

I whispered to Aeris, she nodded and gave me what I asked for. This must've been something crazy to do, but it was the only way to get him out of the entrance.

I walked towards him, knife in hand… I smiled and he frowned his eyebrows, I immediately threw a grenade at him. He moved out of the way, when it blew, Aeris, Marlene and I made a run for it.

…

We were almost at Aeris house while being chase by two blue uniformed soldiers and Tseng himself. My heart was pounding fast; something bad was going to happen. We reached the house and we gave Aeris' mom a scared. The soldiers were knocking the door and they were planning to tear it down.

"What are we going to do?" I asked Aeris.

"I should go with them… all they want is me." She said looking at me with a sweet smile, then changed her gaze towards her mother and lastly to little Marlene. My heart was pounding even faster now and I was getting scared.

As soon as I saw Aeris moved forward, I blocked her way. "No. You stay here, I'll stop them." I said.

"Cynthia, they'll kill you. You don't stand a chance against Tseng." She put her hand on my shoulder, but I shook it off.

"I'm going to stop them; they're not going to get you… because I think… I think is the right thing to do… and they're also lying! I don't trust them!" Just like that I opened the door and faced two Shinra's soldiers and Tseng.

"Move aside. All we want is Aeris, we promise to leave the rest of you alone." Tseng said while Shinra's soldier aimed their gun at me.

"You're not taking her! You're the one who should leave!" I took out my knife.

Tseng told the soldiers to put down their weapons, and he gave me an amused smile.

"What is your name girl?"

"Is Cynthia… "He was up to something.

"Well, Cynthia… I'll make you an offer… if you can defeat me… I promise to leave Aeris and the rest of you alone… however, if you were to lose, Aeris will come with us. Do you accept my terms?" he said to me.

"Can I have your word on that?"

"Of course, I am true to my word."

I nodded… all I needed to do was to kick this guy butt… I faced… some robots, a few monsters… a huge sew monster… all with the help of Cloud and the others. I took my position, and Tseng just remained motionless. I'll wound his leg and the rest should be easy. I immediately lunged at him, but he easily counterattacks knocking me to the floor. I dropped my knife and I stood up. I upper-cut him, trying to imitate Tifa's movements, but he dodged, grabbed my arm and hit it causing me a great deal of pain. I honestly thought I heard bones cracked. He then grabbed me by the hair and kicked me right in the center of my stomach, and I then lost my breath as I felt backwards. I stood up and did the most intelligent thing: I ran forward at him with the intention of knocking him down to the floor and begin a bunch of reckless punches at his face, but he only bent down and kicked my running legs causing me to fall down and hit my face. I heard laughter. The soldiers were mocking me… Tseng was just toying with me. I hated this… I was useless. I stood up unable to accept defeat, he walked towards me and crossed punched at me. I was down on the floor again. This time, Tseng lifted me by grabbing my hair and continuously kept punching my stomach until I began to bleed from my mouth.

"Stop! Can't you see she had enough!" I heard Aeris voice. "I'm coming, just leave everyone else alone!" Tseng threw me abruptly at ground.

"Did you actually believe you took a chance against a Turk?"

I was trying to breath, since I couldn't speak, I just moved my head in negation. I was trying to get up, and I was kicked by one of the soldiers. The pain I felt was excruciating… I started to felt dizzy. Everything was spinning and I saw Aeris being taken away by Tseng.

"N-n-no…" I stood up with God knows what strength. Tseng turned to look. "I'm not done yet… Aeris, you… can't!" I was crying now. Tseng approached me and I tried to punch him, but he only blocked it. He stared at me, he was now annoyed. He then slapped me; I felt. The last thing I remember before everything turning black was a kicked on my face.

…

I was in the dark, and I was trying to run away from the darkness. I was crying, and I was lost. I had nowhere to go, still I kept running.

"Stop running…" I immediately turned to look from behind me… No one was there. "Face it, you can't run from what you're afraid… or else it'll keep hunting you."

"Whose there?" I screamed.

"Come find me and you'll know." I was afraid… the voice was calling me from within the darkness. I took one step closer…

"Don't embrace it either… or you'll lose yourself in it."

"You want me to fight it?" There was complete silence "Hey! Tell me how do I get out of here? Who are you?" I was beginning to cry, I dropped to my knees and sat down. "I don't want to be alone…" I said quietly.

There was laughter coming from a child. When I opened my eyes… I saw Barret and Marlene hugging one another.

"Daddy! You're hurting me with your jaw!" Marlene said while giggling.

I began to move and my whole ache in pain. Barret and Marlene saw me moved and went towards me.

"Miss Cynthia, Are yu' al'rigth?" Marlene sat on the bed with me.

"Ugh, yeah… of course! I'm… excellent!" I forced a smile and tried not to mourn in pain.

"Are you sure? You look horrible… you even have a purple eye." I tried to sit down, but Barret pushed me back. "Don't be reckless! You need to rest… Aeris mother told me what happened to you. And uh'" he started scratching the back of his head "Thanks, for getting Marlene out… you, uh' kept her safe."

I smiled. Then I suddenly remembered… "Aeris!" I sat up again "Barret, they took Aeris! And it was my entire fault, I let them take her! We got to do something… " I started to get out of the bed.

"Woah, Woah, Woah! Take it easy, I know what happened, we'll going to save her, but you have to stay here and recover… you're only lucky to be alive after facing that Turk!"

"But!"

"No buts! Now get back into that bed and rest!"

"No, I'm okay!" I lied… my whole body was in pain.

"Tell you what… if you can recover in the next hour, you can come… we'll need all the help." He said thinking… "I'll be back to check on you." He went out of the room just after kissing his little girl.

"Miss Cynthia, you were really brave!" Marlene said.

"Thank you, Marlene." I said smiling at her.

I lay back on the bed and I saw something shine on my right arm. I jumped at the sight, then I realized it was the material Aeris had gave me. I had to go with Barret and the others. She was my friend now, and I needed to help her. I got up from bed, and I suddenly felt dizzy again. I shook it off, and turned to Marlene.

"Hey Marlene we'll see each other later. I'm feeling better now, so it's time to rescue Aeris… and pay back." I smiled at her and spotted my knife on top of the night table near the bed. I took it and headed myself down stair. Just in time too, they were about to leave: Cloud, Tifa and Barret.

"I'm coming too!" I yelled at them.

"Cynthia, you should stay." Cloud told me "Is too dangerous for you and you need to recover."

"I'm already recovered, and I've faced enough dangers! Aeris… she was taken away… I have to go too… Please." I said to Cloud.

"Cynthia… " Cloud sighed. "Fine, but don't get in the way!"

"Right!" I said joining in with them.

We said good-bye to Aeris' mom and left Marlene with her. I wasn't going to lose next time I face Tseng… I didn't know how exactly… I just wanted to believe it.

…

_ I played the game recently, to get inspiration. I realized that Tifa's bar is named Seventh Heaven, not Seven Heaven. I'll fix those when I can. Well, thank you for reading my story, next chapter Sephiroth makes an appearance and I'll go a little bit faster into the end of the story now. Thanks for those who added my story and please if you liked it, REVIEW! _


	11. Chapter 11

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 11: Red XIII

As we were walking around the Wall Market, we made a stop at the weapon shop. In there, Cloud got better armor and I was given a titan bangle. We were discussing how to get all the way up to Shinra's building, the shopkeeper over heard us and warned us that we were going to need some batteries.

"You want to sell us something you found?" Cloud asked him.

"Trust me, you're going to need them!"

Cloud gave it a lot of thought but he bought them. Next thing I know, we're starting to climb up an old wire, which Barret claimed it was a "shinning wire of hope". It was after all the only way to get to Aeris, but this was even worse than GYM class back with the "she he" coach telling us to climb the rope. Not to mention the shopkeeper was right, we did need the batteries to operate some really old machinery. It was simple enough, until we got to yet, another wire that was swinging side to side. We needed to get to the other side so we had to jump at it and swing our selves there.

"Um, do we really have to jump?" I asked, terrified at the swinging wire.

"You're the one that insisted to come! Let's go, you jumped at top of a moving train. " Cloud said without looking at me. I lunged a look at Tifa and then at him.

"Um, actually you _pushed_ me and I almost die on the act."

"You're still here, let's go!" he immediately jumped and swing himself smoothly to the other side. Then Tifa went behind him and it was my turn. I kept following the wire with my head, giving false alarm of me ready to jump. It irritated Barret every time I did them.

"God Dammit! Jump already!" Barret yelled at me.

"Ok, Ok! Just give me a sec!" I said, feeling the sweat dropping down on my forehead.

On my 27th false alarm jump, Barret had it with me and literally kicked me causing me to fall, hang on tight to moving wire while yelling like a complete nuts case and kept on swinging abruptly. I heard Cloud and Barret yelled at me some more telling me to let go.

"I can't! I'll fall into oblivion!"

"LET GO OR I'LL SEND YA' TO THAT FUCKING OBLIVION YER TALKING ABOUT!" Barret shouted at me with anger.

Then I heard some shooting and that caused me to let go and fall on top of Cloud. My whole body was trembling and Barret have already swung himself; I immediately stood up and kept climbing up, wanting to avoid any possible scolding.

Finally we were at front of Shinra's building. It was the same building I saw in the cover of the game, and it gave an intimidating feeling. I thought that maybe the game was supposed to end here. As we were approaching it, Tifa stopped us and advised us that it would be prudent to sneak inside the building. Barret was disagreeing and said that it was better to burst inside. Barret lost the vote when Cloud and I supported Tifa's strategy. But I was soon sorry for supporting Tifa. We were climbing a never-ending stroll of stairs.

"How many steps we need to climb!" Barret asked.

"Why don't you ask the stairs!" Tifa answered.

"Hehehehe…" Barret started to laugh.

"Stop that, you're creeping me out!" Cloud told Barret.

"This is exhausting! My legs are killing me!" I said falling behind Cloud.

"Hehehehehehe…" Tifa was now laughing.

"…"

"Yo! Are we there yet?"

"Not yet." Tifa answered.

"We there yet?" Barret continue asking

"I said no!"

"How much longer!" I asked almost gasping for air.

"Will you both stop asking! I don't see the 60th floor yet!"

"Sixty floors? I'm going back and take a freaking elevator!" I said stopping.

"I'm with Cynthia! I'm going back!"

"And take as long going down as you did up?"

"…That's…a…strong point!" I continue climbing.

"Grr…"

After a long while, we reached the 60th floor.

"We made it!" Tifa said with relieve.

"Don't…ever…want to…to see a damn stair…again!" Barret said.

As we approached the inside of the building, my legs were trembling and my heart was about to break away from my chest. I was hoping not to fight anyone in this place.

Unfortunately the first thing we did was fight some red uniform guards. I did my part, but Cloud, Tifa and Barret did most of the fighting. When we were done, we found a keycard with access to the 60th floor.

"Wait, this isn't the last floor?" I asked, and Tifa explained to me that Aeris must be in the upper floors where even Shinra's employees have trouble getting in.

We continued sneaking up, using the elevator to reach floor number 65. There was a conference meeting and Cloud knew where to go. We ended up climbing the ventilator inside a bathroom which stunk; I flushed down the toilet hoping the stink might leave with it. Up in the ventilator, we had access to the meeting. I saw the president again, and a guy with a blue suit was talking.

"The estimating damage in Sector 7 is approximately 10 billion… the repair will cost_"

"We're not rebuilding Sector 7, we're leaving it as it is." The president expressed. That guy disgusted me.

"What?"

"Raise the taxes by 15%"

"Don't forget the Space program budget!" A fat guy with cream suit expressed to anyone or no one in the meeting.

"It'll be divided between Scartle's and Reeve's department."

"But president! If we do this the people will lose confidence!" Reeve almost begged to the president. Apparently he was the only one that cared in the meeting. The rest were just arrogant bastard… and a bitch.

"The people trust Shinra."

"After all, we were the one that saved Sector 7 from the Avalance." A green suited man with an ugly beard said.

Barret began the insults on the Shinra, with strong words I should avoid saying or repeating.

"Dr. Hojo, how's the girl?"The president called on an old man, with a low ponytail, crooked back, and a scientist cape.

"Scientifically speaking, the specimen is inferior than her mother, Ifana… It'll take 120 years for the experiment to complete… that's why I'm thinking of breeding her. The specimen looks so much like her mother, yet she has her weaknesses…"

"This concludes the meeting." The president said and they were all leaving.

"Something stinks!" Scarlet said before she left.

When we were getting out of the ventilator, Tifa asked if they were talking about Aeris, that's when we caught the figure of Dr. Hojo walking ahead of us. We started following him up into the 66th floor. Barret immediately recognized the guy as head of the Science department in Shinra. We reached a storage place and in the middle of it was a glass room that contained some sort of creature. Dr. Hojo was mumbling something about precious specimen when his assistant came and asked if everything was ready to begin the experiment. When they were gone, Cloud started to look inside another container that had a small circular window. He immediately seemed to be in pain, as if he had a strong headache.

"Jenova… how did it came here?" Cloud began asking to no one in particular.

Barret just looked inside of the container while Tifa and I were helping cloud up.

"Where's its freaking head! …We have no time, let's just hurry and rescue Aeris!

"Right." Cloud agreed and we started to move at a near elevator that took us to the experiment room.

was admiring another glass container and inside it was Aeris.

"Aeris!"Cloud and I yelled.

"Oh, so that's its name." was now talking to us.

"We're taking Aeris with us!" Cloud said getting a hold on his sword.

"So you must be the intruders…" said with no cared at all.

"Should've figured that sooner!" Barret yelled while pointing his gun at him.

"Are you going to kill me? The equipment here is very sensitive and I'm the only one who knows how to operate it." Dr. Hojo expressed peacefully.

Cloud and Barret lower their weapon in frustration.

"Exactly, I would advise you to think things logically before you do anything. Now… Bring up the specimen."Dr. Hojo commanded.

"What are you going to do with Aeris?" Tifa asked.

"I'm just laying a helping hand with the extinct species, of course." And the creature that was in the floor below was now with Aeris, it seemed like some sort of Hyena… or Cheetah, and it looked that it was going to lunged at Aeris.

"Are you crazy!" I yelled at him "You can't actually be thinking of breeding her with that thing!" He was heartless.

"Aeris is a human being! Barret can't you do something!" Tifa begged.

"Stand back!" and he initiated fire at the container only causing it to emit a light that didn't allowed us to see what was happening inside.

"No! My precious specimen!" immediately went towards the container and pressed some buttons and the door opened revealing the beast that seconds later attacked Hojo. Aeris was alright and quickly came out of the container.

"Are you okay Aeris?"I asked.

"Yes, I'm alright."

"Something is coming up." Cloud said.

managed to release himself and warned us that the beast that was coming was extremely dangerous.

"It's rather ferocious, I'll help you fight it." The red and orange hyena/cheetah said.

"It talked!" Tifa said in shocked.

"Cynthia, take care of Aeris!" Cloud said and I immediately responded by taking Aeris by her hand to a corner of the room and seconds later there was a plant, beast with three little beasts that resembled seeds. The hyena/cheetah was fast and strong. Barret and Tifa had little trouble with it, until the plant beast released purple smoke from its mouth.

"It's poisonous… we should do something" Aeris said in her soft voice.

"Like what! If we… I get in there, I'll just be in the way."

"Cynthia, your arm!"

"What, my arm… why is it glowing?"

"Is the material… concentrate the energy on the monster!"

"Excuse me?"I asked confused.

She turned me to face the monster and told me to concentrate and I tried "When you attack the monster with your ice magic I'll heal Cloud and the rest… Now!" she immediately went towards Cloud and the rest. I started think… about absolutely nothing. Then I saw the monster attacked Tifa. I panicked, and I instinctually lift my arm and the material shone even brighter causing ice to emerge at hit the monster… it was pissed now and it lunged a look at me.

"Oh dear!" I was feeling kind of weak to even run, it was as if I all my energy just disappeared, and I even felt like fainting, but didn't. It began to approach me, and Cloud stabbed his sword behind the monster back causing the monster to halt. Barret then, released his red energy ball attack and Hyena/Cheetah finished the blow causing the monster and its seeds to dissolve slowly. I began approaching Cloud and the rest. Aeris have already healed them with some blue dust that came from the… ground.

"What's your name?" Cloud asked the hyena/cheetah.

"Hojo named me Red XIII, a name with no meaning to me. Call me whatever you like."

"Red…?" I began asking him.

"What is it?" It gave me a look.

"Can I scratch your head? Is just, you're so adorably cute!"

I felt everyone stare on me, and Aeris just started laughing and Mr. Red XIII gave me what it seemed, a confused look. "No, you cannot."

"Argh! Who cares! We got Aeris, let's get the hell out of here!"

"Right!" Cloud and I said simultaneously.

"But we should divide in two parties; we might call too much attention if we go all together…Barret, Tifa, and Cynthia: You'll stay together. Aeris and Red will come with me, let's meet up at the exit." And we moved out.


	12. Chapter 12

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 12: A New Journey Begins

As we were heading for the elevator at the 66th floor, we were stopped by Reno from the Turks. We were taken to President Shinra, and not a minute more Cloud and Red were with us. Aeris was separated from us, Tseng and Rude took our weapons. Suddenly Cloud began to search for Aeris.

"Where's Aeris?" Cloud asked to the president with authority.

"In a safe place…" President Shinra responded.

_My butt! _I thought, but kept all insults to myself.

"She's the last remaining Ancients." President Shinra kept on going.

"What do you mean by Ancients? What are they?" I asked.

"Don't you know? They call themselves the Cetra, and lived thousands of years ago… They are just a forgotten page in history now."

"Cetra… that girl, is she a survivor of the Cetra?" Red XIII asked with curiosity.

"But what's so special about them! Why do you need Aeris for?" I asked again.

"I'm expecting quite a lot from her… she'll lead us to the land of Supreme happiness, the promised land… " The Shinra president responded, but he got tired of us and sent us away. Barret wasn't quite finished with the conversation so he tried to confront him, but Tseng and Rude stopped him.

And so… we ended up in jail. At least, I was with Aeris, she was very good company… but I was worried…

"It's my fault… I'm must be the cause for all of us ending up in jail…" I said out loud.

"It's not your fault… things happen for a reason, don't worry… we'll figure something out. I'm sure of it." Aeris said while smiling sadly.

I smiled back "Ok, glad you're okay. I wonder if Cloud can hear us from over here… I think he's in the next cell."

I saw Aeris stand up, and she smiled… "Cloud? Can you hear me?" hopefully the guards won't tell us to keep quiet.

"Yeah… I'm here. Are you Ok?" I heard Cloud's voice.

"I knew you would come!" she said cheerfully.

" 'Course! I'm your bodyguard!"

Aeris giggled "The deal was for one date."

"Oh, I get it!" I heard Tifa's voice now.

"Tifa? Is she with you?"

"EXCUSE me! Aeris… what is the Promised Land, does it really exist." Tifa asked.

"I don't know… All I know that we Cetra… are born from the planet, speak with the planet and unlock the planet. "

My eyes felt heavy, I was tired… it was hard to remain awake… Aeris explained everything she knew to Tifa and Cloud… the last I heard was… that Aeris could only hear the planet from the Church at the Slums… but that it was full of people and noise… that her real mother said that Midgar was no longer safe… and that they'll return to the promise land… and I felt asleep.

…

I woke up and Aeris was sleeping on the only bed in the cell. My neck and back hurt because of the position I slept in. I stood up to stretch and suddenly, the cell's door opened and Tifa burst in.

"Tifa! Wha_ How did you get out?" I asked waking Aeris up.

"Something is wrong… the guards are dead! Cloud found the doors open and well… we need to go!" Tifa started to head out and we followed, we took our stuff and Red began to lead us, something was wrong. Then we reach the place where the specimens were kept and the container keeping the headless thing called Jenova was gone and a horrible trace of blood began. There was so much blood that I felt sick on my stomach but kept going anyways, following the party.

It lead us towards the president's office… the scene was horrible. The president was stabbed on the back by a really long sword.

Barret caught up to us "He's dead! The leader of Shinra is dead!"

"I guess this is the end…" I said half-relieved.

"Then this sword… must be…" Tifa began to approach the president.

"Sephiroth's!" Cloud finished the sentences for Tifa…

"Sephiroth is alive?" Tifa asked in a distasteful way.

"Looks like it… Only Sephiroth can use that sword." Cloud said.

"Who care who did it! This is the end of Shinra now!" Barret shouted, but this seemed too easy… like that old saying goes… evil doesn't die so easily.

Right then a fat guy with a cream suit came out from hiding, Barret and Cloud stopped him and questioned him. He was absolutely terrified. He told him about Sephiroth… and he said that Sephiroth wasn't going to let Shinra have the promised land.

"So, he's the good guy!" Barret asked, but it sounded more like a statement.

"Sephiroth? A good guy? No way!" Cloud said and suddenly we heard a helicopter fly by the building and Palmer soon got from Barret's and Cloud's grip.

"Dammit! I forgot about Vice President Rufus!" Barret said annoyed.

Everyone hurried themselves out to meet up with this Rufus guy… who apparently was the president's son.

…

We all met Rufus as soon as he noticed us (hard to not) he asked us who we were.

"I'm Cloud, Former SOLDIER First Class!"

"I'm from the AVALANCHE!"

"Same here!"

"… a flower girl from the Slums."

"… a research specimen."

"… a babysitter I guess…"

"What a Crew… " Rufus said, he was a very handsome guy, but boy was he… cruel? Heartless? I was willing to bet that he was worse than his old man. Just then Cloud asked us to go and that he would catch up with us… Barret questioned him, but he assured him that he was going to explain everything later and so, we all began to move.

…

Tifa stayed behind to wait for Cloud, meanwhile at the elevator we were stuck fighting some machines sent by Shinra. It took us a while to smash them, but as soon as the elevator arrived to the 1st floor we were already finished.

Unfortunately we were surrounded, so we needed to figure out a plan to get the heck out of here. Just then Tifa arrived and told us to follow her. Next thing we know, I'm in between Tifa and Aeris in a car and we busted ourselves out smashing the windows and landing on the roads while Cloud was on a motorcycle. I was constantly thinking "WE'RE GOING TO DIE! HOLLY SHIT! OH MY GOSH!" at every close call. Then when I finally think we're out of danger, there's this other machine shaped with wheels and spikes attacking us. We had no choice but to fight it, since we reached the end of the road. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, just a couple of Cloud's magic and combos attacks as I like to call it, Tifa's martial art skills and Barrets shooting took the machine apart.

There was finally a moment of peace, I was tired… all the running, the jumping, the shooting, the _fighting_ was sure too much for me to handle. I sat down for a moment… I saw everyone else pacing around and then Barret asked Cloud.

"Well, what do we do now?"

"Sephiroth is alive. I… I have to settle the score."

"And that'll save the planet?"

"Seems like it."

"Awright, I'm going!"

"I'll go too… I have things that I want to find out." Aeris said.

"About the Ancients?" Cloud asked.

"… Many things."

"I guess this is good bye Midgar." Tifa said.

"So… where are we going?" I asked standing up and walking towards my friends.

"Are you going too?" Cloud asked me.

"Of course! I have to now… I may not have the strongest reason… but I'll help with everything I can… I'm one you… right?" I said… wishing with all my heart that I belonged with them… almost forgetting about home… I wanted to be here, I was useful here… and I was changing as well, the feeling of knowing you're growing up… it feels good.

"Of course you are… " Cloud said, and I saw him smiled for the first time. It made me smile back… I did belong, and I had won a friendship with all of them.

…

I almost forgot how the sun looked like; its rays hurt my eyes when I was out of Midgar. It was very lovely now. Barret asked Cloud to divide us into two groups after being bump by not being the leader; it was rather hilarious to watch. So, I was with Tifa and Red, and we were going to head to a small town call Kalm. We were to meet there.

It wasn't supposed to take us long to reach it, but the problem was the monsters and burglars that appeared blocking out path. Tifa and Red had no problem dealing with them, unlike me; all I could do to inflict damage was using my ice magic, which was tiring to do. I was still not so good in using my knife, but I could defend myself decently. When we reached Kalm, I sat at the fountain that was in the middle of the town. I was tired, sweating and I wanted a hot bath soon, plus I was starving. Red sat near me, and even thought I asked politely if I could rub his head he refused. He was adorable, yet fearless.

I saw Tifa getting out of the Inn, and I started to head her way. As soon as she spotted me she smiled.

"Are you rested?"

"Yeah… say Tifa… can you… teach me how to fight?" I asked blushing, this was a question that not even in a million years it would crossed my mind to ask anyone.

"… You do need lessons, I seen you trying to imitate some of my attacks." She giggled. "Okay, come with me…" we headed in a spacious place in town and Tifa began to explain how to block any attack with my arms. I seen this a million times in movies… it took me a while but I figured it out. She threw one of her punches, and at the 27th time I finally blocked. I started to shake my arms, because it hurt so much, and when I looked at them, they were red.

"Good, now let's see, your turn… punch me."

"Huh? … Um… ok." I punch her weakly

"No… harder… punch me with all your might or no more lessons for you."

I sigh, and I punched her. She blocked it with one hand.

"Hmm… I see your mistakes… Ok, you need to exhale every time you throw a punch, and you need to move your legs and body, while you're coordinating your punches. Now, moved like this." She threw a punch in slow motion while moving her left leg a little sideways, then turning it until her arm was fully extended. "Now you try it." I did it like a 10 times before I got it right. "Ok, perfect… now every time you punch you need to exhale."

"Why exhale_"

"Trust me… " I did it a couple of times, and not long before I got a hang on it, I saw Cloud, Aeris and Barret in town. "Okay… every time you have a break, you're going to practices those punches. Until you got them right, I'll teach you the rest of many of my techniques, some developed by me." She winked at me.

"Ok… "I was glad to stop; I was too tired and ready to drop dead on the first bed I see.

This new journey… I had a feeling that it was far from over, and I wanted to give my absolute best.

…

_ Thanks for those who have review this story; it really helps me to keep writing more. Since I'm starting college again, I'll be busier than ever. So, please be patient. Next chapters will soon come, and I think that I'll start summarizing more the upcoming events so I can get to the climax already! I really want to get the whole team into the picture! Mean while, REVIEW! :D _


	13. Chapter 13

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 13: Cloud's Past

We were all to meet in Kaml's Inn. As soon as I saw the bed as we were entering the room, I ran towards it, jumped and let myself dropped on it.

"BED!" I was so glad to see one, and it felt like the bed was hugging me.

Aeris and Tifa laughed at my reaction, but it was such a long freaking day, I needed to sleep. Once we settled in, Cloud begun to explain his story. I was listening while hugging the pillow and I lay on bed. I felt that I needed to hear every single detail, it was important.

"I used to want to be like Sephiroth… we trusted each other… but I guess that would be call war buddies."

So, this chapter was all about Cloud's past. He said that Sephiroth's strength was unreal. The deeper he went, the scarier this Sephiroth seemed to me. He explained that once inside the Reactor, Sephiroth lost it, they returned afterwards towards Nibelheim, and soon after… he went missing. Sephiroth was found in a Mansion where Shinra personal used to live. He was down on the basement reading, and after Cloud went to check on him, he left… said that Sephiroth stayed all night reading.

"That's insane! He stayed by himself reading all night trying to figure out who he was? He must've gone crazy!"

"Cynthia! Don't interrupt Cloud! Please Cloud… continued." Tifa seemed rather down and interested in hearing Cloud's story, plus it made me wonder… why was she so interested? Wasn't she with Cloud when all that happened? Anyways, the next part of the story drained all the blood from my face; if I thought Sephiroth was scary… he now terrified me. The next day… Sephiroth burned the whole town, and killed everyone in it. Cloud followed him toward Mt. Nibel's reactor. He went inside a room where it contained, in Sephiroth's mind, his mother: Jenova. It was the same thing that was headless in Shinra's building. It was the big battle now… Cloud had challenged Sephiroth and…

"That's it." Cloud finished the story.

"What!" I couldn't believe it.

"Wait! Aint' there more?"

"I can't remember the rest… in term of skill, I couldn't have won, but I survived after challenging Sephiroth… " Cloud was deep in thought.

"But, how can you forget? I mean, it was such an important battle." I was now standing up on the bed, and I jumped out "Did he hit you on your head by any chance?" I was so bumped, I was so full of anxiety… there was so many stuff that didn't make sense, and I wasn't the only one, for the first time, with the same feeling. Suddenly, Barret had it, and said that he was going to leave the thinking to us and left… it looked rather hilarious, the way he said it.

"I guess we should rest, and leave first thing tomorrow." Tifa said. And it was a good idea, she headed out to look for Barret.

…

I shared the bed with Aeris. I was tired, but I couldn't sleep, Aeris started to whisper to me.

"Cynthia? You still awake?"

"Yes." I whispered back.

"What are you thinking?"

"A lot of stuff… mostly, is Sephiroth really like you?" I asked, we were both probably staring at the roof.

"I don't know… there are many things I want to find out in this journey… " we went quiet for a while, then I broke the silence.

"What was your ex-boyfriend name?"

"… Zack."

"Why did you break-up?"

"… No choice… one day… he just disappeared. We weren't really serious… I guess."

"I see… something, in Cloud's story doesn't make sense… I'm sure he's telling the true, but… "

I heard Aeris giggle "What a change of topic…"

"Oh, sorry, I sometime do that… when I think too much… if I want to figure something out, I need to stop thinking about it… the answer usually hits me in the back of the head."

"Is okay… I guess you're right, but we weren't there… maybe in the future, when Cloud remembers that final battle… everything will start to make sense."

"I guess… " we went silent again…

"Cynthia… what was your ex-boyfriend name?"

I started to laugh "It was Camelo… he doesn't like his name, so everyone calls him in his second name which is Alexander… he likes that name better… I was the only one allow to call him Camelo, I… like his first name better… sometimes I used to call him Cam, so he doesn't feel so bad… but, he's nothing but an idiot." I felt that my face was burning… I wanted to cry… but I just breathe in… and exhale. "But, it's over… he called me one night… and told me that… he wanted to break-up with me, and he hung up… he avoids me now, he changed his phone number and well… I made up my mind to forget him. The end… I guess that's why is call a break-up… because it breaks you."

"That's why you run-away?"

"… Yes… To be honest… When I get back to my home… I don't know if I should thank my brother… or just beat the hell out of him."

Aeris started to laugh and asked why would I do a thing like that.

"Because this adventure was, actually, his idea."

We kept talking for a little while, and then we both decided to sleep.

…

The next morning Tifa bought phones, and gave one to each of us; it was so we could all communicate with each other. We were to head the South so we could find more information about Sephiroth. Cloud needed to settle the score and in the process save the planet… Convenient. As we were on our way to a cave by Chocobo, we came upon a horrifying scene that made my hair rose and chill went up my spine. It was a 30th foot long snake stabbed on the top of a leafless tree… it was horrible and everyone concluded, it was Sephiroth doing.

"This guy's strength is more than unreal… it's impossible." I commented more to myself.

As we entered the cave, which it was full of monsters, I've gotten a lot better with the use of ice, but it was very tiring, I also got a few lesson from Cloud on how to use my knife, I really needed every single one of my fighting skill to improve. Also, we encounter members of the Turks in the cave and thanks to their newest member, we got word that Sephiroth was on his way to a town call Junon. According to Cloud we needed to head west to get there and so we did.

…

The journey on foot sure took us a while, but we gained an ally. It was this lively, sixteen year old girl with ninja skills. She was amazing, but she sure looked a lot more interested in our materia. Regardless that, she was ok. In fact, she was fun to be with.

When we got to Junon, we started asking for Sephiroth but no one have seen someone like our description. For some reason we headed ourselves to the beach and there we spotted a very sweet little girl, she was calling a dolphin.

"Mr. Dolphin! My name is Priscilla! Pri-sci-lla!"

She was cute. Soon afterwards she noticed us and confused us with Shinra personal. Unexpectedly, a sea monster appeared. Little Priscilla got worried about Mr. Dolphin and as she recklessly tried to save the dolphin, she got attacked by the monster and fell in the water. Cloud and Red charged on the monster while I, worried about the girl, jumped into the water and swam towards her. As I got a hold on her, I swam upwards and pulled the girl to safety, out of the battle. Cloud and Red finished the monster off, as I notice that the little girl wasn't breathing. An old men came into the picture (I assumed it was the girls grandfather) while I was giving her CPR. I started to put both my hand, one on top of the other, a little further from her stomach and started to push 4 times, on the fourth I started to give her mouth to mouth. I did this process like 4 times when she came through. I was relieved to see she started to breathe again, and her grandfather took her to their house.

As we were heading out of town, to figure out another plan, an old woman came towards us and offered her house so we could rest. She had heard what we did for Priscilla and this was our reward. We thank her of course, and then she noticed that I was soaking wet. She gave me some new clothing and told me that I could keep them. It was a better fit too, she said it was her daughter's. I had now a plain black T-shirt, faded color jean and a sleeveless jacket jean which color was also faded. I got my boots off and waited for them to dry. We were all finally together, and Tifa suddenly send me to practice my punching. I went of course, but all I wanted was to sleep. When I expressed this, as we were exiting the house, she pushed me.

"I don't want that attitude from you!" she was trying to be a serious Master, but I could see she was holding a smile. "Sleep is for the weak!"

"Well, I must be REALLY weak, 'cause I love to sleep. In fact, after swimming, that's my other favorite hobby!" I replied her, and soon she started giving me lesson on how to properly throw jabs, cross, upper cuts and hooks… The whole combination process takes a lot out of you especially the movements with your hips and legs and breathing is mighty important. We went on a roll for a couple of hours and she finally let me go.

I threw myself in one of the beds and immediately went to sleep.

…

I was now inside a crystallized cave, it was beautiful and peaceful… suddenly the same strange person appeared, his eyes were scarlet red, and he stared at me. Finally he told me that I should wake up… and I did. I open my eyes, but didn't get up… there was a very lively music going on outside… I suddenly realized there was someone sitting on the corner of the bed where Cloud was sleeping. He said to Cloud to ask Tifa something, and I sat up looking at him. He returned my look and said oops, while smiling… and he was gone. He had black hair and he was a bit handsome. Sooner later Cloud woke up and I kept to myself what I think I saw… next thing I know, we were sneaking inside Shinra's ship. After Cloud posed as a Shinra soldier thanks to Priscilla's help, we did the same by knocking out some Shinra's workers. We were in the ship and I was accompanying Yuffie since I found out that she suffered from motion sickness. It was such an ironic thing, such a great warrior and well, her weakness is motion sickness. I stood by her and helped her walk up the ship, because she looked like she was going to through up. As we were up on the ship the alarms went on and warned that there was suspicious personal on board, we quickly panicked since we thought it was us, but as we got together we found out that everyone was here. So we concluded… Sephiroth was on board.

…

_Apologies for my lateness, but been busy, wrote this chapter in a hurry. I'll fix anything that's needed to fix later. Enjoy, and please your leave you Review good or bad, is more than welcome ;) _


	14. Chapter 14

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 14: Fun and Games Ends inside the Desert Prison

A lot has happened since we left Midgar, I was close to this Sephiroth, but didn't get the chance to actually meet him or even see him. Cloud, Barret and Aeris were the ones to go down and check right after the alarms went off. I was surprise to see that Yuffie didn't want to go with Cloud, she was… terrified. I, wasn't sure why, but I was sure that something bad was going to happen.

As we were exiting the ship, Aeris got excited. I tasted the breeze that suddenly blew on my face; it smelled like we were close to a beach. I read a sign that said "Welcome to Costa Del Sol" we were in a place full of fun, there were also lots of people with swimsuit and with a sense of vacation. Everyone gathered around and at first we begun talking about where Sephiroth might be heading next suddenly Aeris and Tifa started commenting about how cute Barret looked with his sailor suit, I never thought I would see Barret dressed like that. We started giggling, and even more when Barret turned a little red. Even Cloud joined in the fun.

"Yeah, you looked like a bear wearing a marshmallow" said Cloud with a small grin, but in a serious tone. I started laughing uncontrollably.

"Well, this happens to be the most comfortable thing!" Barret snapped instantly.

Yuffie then stepped out of our group and told us not to bother looking for her; she was going to meet us at the town's entrance. We agreed to split up and have a look around town and meet up at the entrance. I noticed that Red was acting strange, so I approached him.

"Are you ok Red?" I asked feeling that Aeris was behind me.

"Yes, but I hope we don't stay long, this heat is unbearable… "

"Oh, yes, it is really hot… hmm, let's look for a shade." I said to particularly no one. I just went up ahead, passed by a bar and found a cool place to be. The Bar's air conditioner escaped from the door and as the wind blew it hit us every now and then. I sat close in between Red and Aeris… for some reason I started thinking of how Aeris and I met… she mentioned to Cloud about a material she had.

"Say Aeris, what's that materia that you say it was good for absolutely nothing?"

"Hmm, what about it?" Aeris asked sweetly.

"I was wondering, why it won't do anything. I'm not good with the use of materia and I still can use it… but I'm not convinced that it's good for absolutely nothing… I mean it _must_ do something."

"I guess… maybe we're find out in the future, who knows."

"Yeah… " for some reason I noticed that Red was wagging his tail… he looked adorable.

"You're probably wondering why my tail moves like this… " said Red all of the sudden.

"Oh, not really… "

He made a sound that I assumed it was a small chuckle "well, true is, I haven't the slightest idea… "

"Maybe is because you're relax." I looked up to wipe some sweat that was on my forehead and I noticed Yuffie was selling materia inside a white RV. "Is that Yuffie?"

Aeris looked up and she nod "Yes."

"Let's check it out. Coming Red?"

"I'll stay here, I'll meet you up later." He answered

"Ok, let's go Aeris" I helped Aeris up.

Yuffie explained that this was her part-time job, she then sell me a Heal materia.

"Trust me, you'll be in need of this since you're not a good fighter at all" she said lively.

"Gee thanks… " I said sarcastically, but knew she was right. I followed Aeris instruction and put the green little ball on my left arm. I was amazed how it dissolved into my arm.

"You should only be able to cure poisoned friends… but as you gained experience you should be able to cure other dieses." She smiled "we should eat before we head out again."

"Yes!" I was hungry and glad she mentioned food. We headed out shortly after we ate at the bar.

…

As we were at Mt. in Corel, we passed by a middle age man that told us he just passed a guy with a black coat. We were getting close, or so I thought. There were plenty of creepy monsters, one poisoned Tifa, I was glad the Heal materia worked to help me cure her. A flying monster went on to attack me and I instinctively jabbed the bird with my right fist. Which I knocked down, but it hurt me more than the bird did. As we were getting out of the mountain, I was still rubbing my right hand. That bird was ten times harder than I though. My knife was too small to inflict enough damage too. We were walking in a really wide and long bridge, and Tifa was giving me tips on how to fight different types of monsters. "You shouldn't hit them bare handed, you should buy a gauntlet to protect your fist from damage."

"I'll keep that in mind… Thanks."

Suddenly some kind of red creature which was round and covered in flames appeared. Cloud and Barret lunged at it and every time it was attacked it grew a little. Cloud yelled at me to use my ice-magic at it. I concentrated my whole being into it, and a small blizzard surrounded the red creature as my materia glowed. The creature then felt and disappeared. I was then explained that elemental creatures were supposed to be attack by the opposite element. I kept that in mind as well.

We reached some kind of place that was covered with trash, and there were some tents around the place too. Some man took a notice on us and suddenly yelled at the others with some distaste that someone was back. It took me a few second to realize it was about Barret, he headed on ahead and told us to wait. We were still at hearing distance and unexpectedly the guy punched Barret at his face, he backed away one foot and maintained composure. I was in shocked and Cloud held my arm when I tried to approach Barret. He was also in shock but he gave me a head signal that we shouldn't interrupt. When they were finished, Barret came back to us, a depress expression that I swear I never thought I would see.

"'Ye heard them, it's _all_ my fault." That was all that Barret said before we reached the train.

He explained us then about his best friend Dyne, about his town being destroyed by the Shinra all because he agreed on the construction of the reactor in Corel, about his wife Myrna dying… he was blaming everything on himself. Yuffie was the only one who wasn't sympathized with Barret. She hated Shinra as much as Barret did. We all got on the train, and ironically we were at a place called the Gold Saucer.

The place sure looked like fun, Aeris was once again excited and she said that she knew it wasn't the time, but we should have fun. She then approached Barret and asked him to cheer up, he snapped by saying he wasn't in a cheery mood.

"Really? That's too bad." Aeris then went with Cloud asked him to come with her.

I wasn't sure what to do; I was still thinking about Barret. That was a little too harsh, Tifa seemed like she read my mind and approached Aeris and she answered that she should act normal when things like this happen. Aeris then went up to Barret again.

"We're going to go play, is that ok?"

"THEN PLAY! I don't give a damn!" he rushed off to some kind of closed slider and before he jumped in he told us not to forget we're still looking for Sephiroth.

"I think he's mad" Aeris said.

"You _think_?" I answered.

"Don't worry, he seems to be better now… " Tifa finally said, and so Aeris and Cloud jumped inside another closed slider.

"Hey Yuffie, want to go with me?" I said wanting to join in the fun.

"Um, sure!" she said and we both jumped inside a slider that read SPEED.

It was sure fun to slide down the place, it almost made me forget everything else. We went into a place that looked like a roller coaster, but we couldn't get in… we needed some GP.

The lady said we could get them in a place called Wonder Square. We headed to the place, it was an arcade. I actually never been to one back in my world, never really called in my attention. As we were there, we play basketball game which I sucked big time, Yuffie pushed me away, she said I was wasting money for nothing. She in the other hand was good at it. We played around some more, and boy was I having fun. Then we went across a combat game, I challenged Yuffie and we played a few times. Finally after a while, I beaten her, and when I did I started jumping up and down. Lots control of myself, I think.

"Ha! I did it!" I said giggling and laughing.

"Yes after a 12 lost." She said not happy by the fact that she lost, but she still had a smile.

"Don't care! I won once! Woo-hoo!" I said still giggling and jumping.

"You girls sure enjoy these games." Said a familiar voice, I turn to see that it was Red. He looked like he was in a good mood. Tifa entered a few seconds later. She seemed to have noticed that I won at a combat game.

"You know there's a place where you get to fight real monsters." She smiled "You should give it a go Cynthia. It might help you improve. She winked at me. My old self would have told her she was crazy, but I said lively, and even happy.

"What are we standing here for, let's go-go-go!" I rushed off not sure which way was it.

…

As we headed for the battle arena, there was this Shinra uniformed personal on the floor. I approached him, and my hair rose. "He's dead… Is Sephiroth here?"

"No… I don't think so, he was shot… Sephiroth always uses his sword." Tifa said.

"Then who did this?" For some reason I went up stairs, I found Cloud, Aeris and some… thing with them. _Was that a stuffed animal?_ "Cloud! What happened here?"

"Cynthia, I don't know… "Someone started to moved, it was a lady that had the Gold Saucer uniform, Cloud went towards her. "What happened here?"

"Ugh… a man, with a gun… on his arm."She then lost consciousness.

It took me a few second to get what she meant… "Barret would never do this!" I said, not knowing why, but I was sure he didn't.

Soon later, someone who was really muscular and was only wearing an orange bottom enter the place along with some security guards "Halt! What happened here?"

Cloud try to explained to him what has happened, but the cat that was on top of a machine said that this was going to get ugly and told us to follow. We all did, but it was futile in the end, some machine got a hold of us all and they sent us down into a hole… The guy with the orange bottom told us to pay for our crime, and we ended up… literally, inside a desert prison.

The heat was unbearable, and there were plenty of mysterious characters here, there was even a punk that was following us. Cait Sith, the stuffed animal, told us that once you get in… you never got out. I wouldn't buy that, and I was still thinking about Barret. Then I saw him…

"Cloud! Hurry, there's Barret!" I ran on ahead and Barret just turned.

"Don't ye all interfere! This is something I got to do by myself!" and he ran off.

"Barret! Wait! Cloud, what do we do? You don't think Barret shot those people?"

"That's one of your friends, he sure looks dangerous." Cait Sith commented, but I ignored him. What was he doing with us?

"Let's catch up with Barret. Something's wrong with him… I don't think he did it Cynthia." Tifa was quiet, she also couldn't believe Barret did it as well. "Then we find a way out of here. Let's go."

"Right!"

…

_Apologies for taking so long, but I've been very busy. Wrote this chapter in a hurry as well, but it came out nice. Hope that in the next chapter Vincent can finally show up! Anyways, leave your REVIEWS. _


	15. Chapter 15

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS

Chapter 15: Nanaki

We went after Barret there, as we tried to follow, I began to scan the place and it was sure a nasty place to be. Plenty of creepy people around, and enough reason to be scared in this place. We spotted a cabin, and decided to search it, as we entered the place, Barret burst open in from the other door.

"I thought I told ye to leave!" he aimed his gun at us.

That alone drawn the blood out of my face and I felt cold in my stomach "B-Barret! Please, we're your friends!"

"Just listen out, a while. This is just a big misunderstanding" Cait Sith was now trying to reason with him.

As soon as I heard him fire I dropped to the floor and gave a small shriek while covering my face with my hands, then I heard someone fall and it was the jerk that was following us. "Barret… "I let out.

"I didn't want any of ye to get involved… " Barret began saying, but Aeris interrupted.

"Oh Barret, that's Cloud's line… I can't have you involve, it's too dangerous blah blah blah… "

"Aeris right, we're already involved." Tifa said.

"I heard the killer was someone with a gun-arm… was that you?" Red asked Barret.

"No, there's another who got the same operation as me… "

"I knew it wasn't you, but Barret _don't _ever do a thing like that! You almost gave me a heart-attack… we're your friends Barret, so spill the beans, who's this other guy?" I said recovering from the shock that Barret gave me.

He told us about Dyne… they both lost irreplaceable things… they're families… I thought that Marlene was Barret's child, but it was actually Dyne's. He told us on how he and Dyne lost their arms… Tifa thought he could join us, but Barret still didn't want us to get involved in his problem.

"Barret, we're already involved. We're not going to let you go alone" Aeris told him again.

"I guess that's settles it, I'm coming with you because if you die on me I'm going to have nightmares." Cloud said.

"Yes, what he said! So_"

"Cynthia, you're not coming with us… "

"Why?" I said offended.

"I need you, Red and Yuffie to find a way out while I, Tifa, Cait Sith, Aeris and Barret find Dyne."

"Oh… well, be careful! Let's go, the sooner we're out of here the better!"

"You said it!" Yuffie agreed with me.

We headed out, we talked to some guy with a nice suit and told us that in order to get out of here, we needed to win a Chocobo race, and to do that we needed to go up, and to go up, we needed the boss' permission. He then told us that the boss was in a terrible mood today and then found out that the boss was Dyne. We could only hope that the guys have luck getting Dyne to join us.

We waited at front of the cabin's entrance, when they finally returned Barret was holding some kind of pendant. Tifa told me what happened, and I almost felt sorry for Dyne. We then went to talk to the guy with the fancy suit, and Barret almost strangled him in order to get him to let one of us compete in the chocobo race. It was then that a funny looking woman named Ester appeared and offered us to be her manager. She was moved by Dyne's story, Cloud was going to compete but he thought that I was better suited.

"Why me? I've never been to a chocobo race, let alone compete in one!"

"But you have more experience in riding one than the rest of us, plus you're lighter, that pushes our chance to win. We only get to go out if we win."

"Hahaha… No pressure huh? Ok, I'll do my best."

"Win that race fer' us!" Barret said before I went up the elevator with Ester.

"Don't worry honey, I'll help you all the way." She gave me a confident smile and started explaining me the rules. I also met this chocobo jockey named Joe. He was really nice.

Ester signed me in and got me a good chocobo. As I got on the chocobo I caressed its head, they were sure cute, but boy was I nervous… "Don't lose on me, little fellow, I only got one chance and I don't want to let my friends down" the race soon began… and boy was the chocobo fast, in a matter of 2 minutes… I already won the race. It happened too fast.

…

We finally got out and Ester see us out of the place, she told us that Dio gave her a letter so she could give it to Cloud when we were out… the letter said that he gave us a gift as to apologies for the misunderstanding and he told us that Sephiroth was heading to a place called Gongaga.

The gift happened to be some kind of… truck that could cross desserts and rivers. Yep, I definitively forgive this Dio guy. No more walking for a while. We headed towards Gongaga, when we arrived we were surprise to see that the Turks knew where we were and where we were heading. We ended up in a fight with them, but we beaten them. Reno sure was funny, they run off on us saying that even thought we beaten them, they were still victorious. _Sure, keep dreaming._ Still it was weird, how did they knew where we were heading? Cloud was wondering that as well and Tifa though that there was a spy among us… Cloud didn't want to believe it… he trusted everyone… and so did I.

…

After we left Gongaga, we found out about Aeris boyfriend Zack, he was from Gongaga, and he hadn't contacted his parents for 10 years. I didn't say anything… but I saw a picture of him in Zack's parent's house that looked a lot like the guy at Junor. Also Tifa was acting kind of strange, but she didn't want to talk about it with me. Soon after we reached a place called Cosmo Canyon, we got off and headed towards the town. We then found out that this was his hometown and that his name is Naniki, and he return to stay. We were allowed inside town and Aeris said she could find out a lot about the Cetra here. She went off to search around for the information she needed, I ended up following Cloud.

I met Red's grandfather as well, he was a funny and a very wise old man, although I kept wondering how was he floating on top of… a green… thing. He thanked Cloud for helping his Naniki back home. I was wondering why so much concerned and I could tell that Red was a little embarrassed, then he asked his grandfather to stop talking like that, that he was already 48 years old. My first WTF moment:

"Red, you're 48 years old!" I asked out loud, he was a lot older than I could ever imagine.

"Hohoho ho Yes, but Naniki have very long life spam. In human's age that would be the equivalent of 15 or 16 years old… "Bugenhagen said.

My second WTF moment: "Whaaat! … That's super cool! So, you're my age then… sort of… Oh wow… " I suddenly felt speechless. Red has always been very quiet, he seemed to be older than he appeared… but never did I imagined him to have so much age.

As we kept talking, a learned at lot about Cloud and Red's world, and now… I was a little afraid. He said that the planet was suffering and that it was in pain… I even heard something that sounded like a cry. "How can we avoid it? How can we help the planet?" I asked.

"Grandfather, why don't you show them your apparatus?" Red asked before he left the house.

"Alright, why don't you ask two more of your friends to join us?"Bugenhagen asked us.

We got Barret and Aeris to come with us, and Bugenhagen showed us his laboratory… it was simply breath taking, in fact it sort of reminded me of Epcot at Disney back at my home. It showed us the planetary system, and it looked so realistic, I also learned about the lifestream… and what would happen if it would stop flowing through the planet… it would die.

…

We all surrounded the fireplace at the center of the town. I really liked it here. It was peaceful, and there was so much knowledge. Just looking at the fire, it put my mind in ease. Aeris said that she found out about the Cetra… she really was the only one left. Tifa was also talking to Cloud… I didn't get the question she asked Cloud. She asked Cloud… if he was really him… For the first time, I noticed that Tifa was really hiding something…_ but what?_ Yuffie was impatient to leave town… she commented me that the materia here sucked, I bought one that gave me more stamina, Barret went to restock and gave me some potions too.

I was sad, Red was obviously going to stay… he was good company and I still though that he was adorable. Still he wouldn't let me scratch his head. I giggled at the thought, and Red was talking about his father with Cloud, he said that he was a coward and that escaped while the Gi tribe attacked.

"When I talk about my mother, I'm full of pride and that's fine, but when I talk about my father, my heart is filled anger… " Red said.

"Nanaki, follow me… there's something I need to show you. Cloud can you come as well? It's going to be dangerous." Cloud stood up and followed Bugenhagen, I also stood up… I wanted to go as well.

Bugenhagen was opening some kind of metallic door that was covered by rust. "Ok, go on ahead."

"Granfather, aren't you coming too?"Red asked.

"What are you crazy! I told you that this was going to be dangerous and you want an old man like me to go first, I'll be right behind you."

…

We entered the cave, and it was dangerous alright. I used a lot of my magic here and there were creatures that looked like ghosts, and there were some kind of snake-monsters that could inflict poison with their bites. As we were getting deeper into the cave, Bugenhagen told us the story of this warrior that went through this very same cave, he went alone, just to stop the Gi tribe from getting into the village. He went alone, and fought one after the other. I couldn't help but to feel that it was about Red's father. As we were getting close towards where Bugenhagen wanted to take us, there was this monstrosity blocking the path. It was one of the Gi spirits that refused to return to the lifestream. It had awakened, and it was powerful. Cloud and Red constantly lunged at it, but there were these flames that were protecting it. I summoned my ice-magic, but it wasn't powerful enough, suddenly the flame began to surround me. I took out my knife and tried to slay the flames away, I just followed instincts now. I concentrated on ice as much as I could before getting burned by the flames and just in time I summoned the biggest blizzard I had ever seen, there was even little blocks of ice that weaken the flames until they became nothing, that gave Cloud and Red the perfect chance to take down the Gi spirit. It used its lance to defend itself now, but soon after Red took it down with his red fan attack as he called it. Bugenhagen was relieved to see that the danger passed and he said that he was now sure that it wasn't a mistake to take Red here. He had seen his grandson grow, I smiled.

My suspicions were right; Bugenhagen was indeed talking about Red's father. I almost cried when I heard the end of the story. Seto, Red's father, had sacrificed his life in order to protect the village and everything important in his life. That's why he didn't come back. Bugenhagen asked us to give them a few moments alone and so I left with Cloud.

…

After a good rest, we returned again to the fireplace, and we were now ready to resume our quest. I was sad though, I was going to miss Red now. To my surprise though, as we were exiting Cosmo Canyon, Red called after us and asked us to wait for him.

"Red, does this mean that you're coming?" I went pass Cloud.

"Yes." Red answered.

"What happened?" Cloud asked a little confused.

"I grew a little, that's what happened." And went passed us.

"Worth for me, let's go Cloud, we still have a long way to go. Red! Wait up!"

I was happy, we were still a complete team and we were going to take Sephiroth down too and save the planet. Still, there was something in the back of my mind that was bothering me, but that could wait.

…

_****I totally apologies for the previous errors! I can't believe I missed them… I mean, confusing bite wit BYTE? OMAGAIHSUN! Won't ever post something like that again, but I corrected most of the mistakes now. I hope I didn't miss any this time though, anyways hoping it was still enjoyable**** _

_It's good to know that I can stretch time by taking my sleep time and replace it with writing time. LoL! Well, this event came to my mind and didn't want to let it slip, next chapter, Vincent Valentine makes his appearance… Will Cynthia recognize him from her dreams? Will Vincent join their party? [Obviously] Will Cynthia finally meet the greatest villain ever created? Stay tune for the next chapter! Now please leave your REVIEWS, they help my motivation and to correct my mistakes too. : ) Thank you for reading hoped you enjoined! _


	16. Chapter 16

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 16: Nibelheim's Nightmare

I was almost smacked by Barret after I begged almost on my knees to let me drive the buggy. Cloud was unsure at first, but I managed to convince him, and this is the reason why I'm driving it now. I mostly wanted to drive to avoid thinking, I wanted my mind occupied. I was afraid of something, but didn't know what exactly. The area where we were driving was peaceful and serene, but Cloud and Tifa were somehow unease… I could somehow tell. I asked them if I was heading the right way several times and Cloud just nodded.

Soon I was able to see a town at distance; I interrupted Cloud's though by asking him if he knew the town. He suddenly got even more unease.

"That's not possible… " Cloud said more to himself.

"… What's wrong?" I asked.

"Speed up."

"Huh? Uh, ok."I did.

We arrived town and Cloud and Tifa didn't even let me park, they took off without warning. We all followed after them. We arrived to a nice quiet town, but it was almost empty and somehow… it was death. Tifa was in some stage of shock and Cloud was completely quiet and full of disbelief.

"This is supposed to be all gone! Right… and yet… my house is still there."Tifa said trying to compose herself.

"Wait, where are we?" I asked half knowing the answer and the other half afraid of it.

"This… this is Nibelheim… this town, was all burned to the ground." Cloud answered.

"What the hell is goin' on? Maybe ye all dreamed it?" Barret said.

"No! I remembered the intense heat from the flames! I'm not lying." Cloud said as if returning back to his memories.

"But then… why is this town here? How is this possible?" I asked.

We all decided to search for some answers inside the town, so we split up. I went with Cait Sith to a house that _looked_ like it had a few decades old. Cait Sith knocked on the door, but no one answer, so he opened the door and went in.

"Should we go inside?" I asked.

"Why not? If anyone asks we just act as we were tourists and ask about this town and then leave." The little cat said to me. I was still not used to see a stuffed animal talk like a normal person.

"Hmm? No one appears to be in here… Why don't you check up stairs?" he turned without waiting for me to answer. I went up stairs slowly.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" I asked. No answer. I entered the only room available, it appeared to be some kind of studio, and it was very dark too. I started to look for a light switch but found none. As my eyes were getting used to the dark, I felt as if I was being watch, not finding anymore use being here I immediately turned without warning and I almost bumped into some kind of dark figured. My hair rose and I let out a scream, I took several fast backward steps and I tripped with something falling on my butt while letting a couple of empty boxes land on me. Chills went up my spine as I stared at the dark figure that was wearing, what it looked like, a black cape that covered bottom to top. It approached me slowly.

"Stay back!" I took out my knife, and I felt my heart pound like never before. I aimed my knife at the black figured, and suddenly he stopped. He began to mumble something that I didn't quite get. Suddenly I heard Cait Sith enter the room.

"Cynthia! What happened?" He stopped, I managed to get up, while I still aimed my dagger at the mysterious… person? Whatever it was. I fast passed by him and went with Cait Sith. "I don't think he's dangerous."

"I… know, but you can never be sure." I put away my knife and the black figure started to mumble some more.

_Sephiroth… the great… Sephiroth…_

That freaked me even more. I asked Cait Sith to leave the place and he agreed. I could still feel my heart pounding like crazy, when we exited the house Cait Sith asked me if I was alright.

"Yes, I'm better now… I was more surprised than scared. What was that… thing?" I asked not expecting an answer.

…

I went toward where "Tifa's house" was, I thought that she would be there, but she wasn't. When I entered the house, I thought that my mind was playing tricks on me, but it wasn't. I stared at it for a long while, it was another… person? With a black cape that covered everything, I couldn't even see a face, and I wasn't sure I wanted to see one either. I just went up stair and kept reminding myself that I wasn't the same girl that belonged to the other world… I was strong, I could do magic and I was sure that I could kickass. I entered a room, and I scanned it… there was a piano, a bed and a desk covered in papers. I got curious, and somehow I was hoping for answers. One of the pages had a name that called my attention: "Hojo". I picked it up and started to read.

_"Periodic report to Professor Hojo_

_ I Clone activity report:_

_ Unfortunately, no 'CLONE' have left the town this quarter. As previously reported, the CLONE seems to be sensing something. But all they say is "renunion" or "Sephiroth" and show no other sign of activity."_

I was trying to understand the letter, but I was completely clueless. I had a hunch that these CLONEs were the black hooded creatures. But it didn't explain anything about this town. I immediately picked a random letter that was on top of all the other papers. It read:

_"2 Confidentiality Report_

_ A total of eight people have visited this town this quarter. Fortunately, none knew about the incident five years ago. Therefore, no one knows the town was restored exactly as it was five years ago. Our staffs, disguised as townspeople have improved their acting skills, and we do not report any problems at this time. That is all." _

The letters made better sense now, but why go through all that trouble to hide an accident? Whose idea was that and _why_? There must be a bigger reason, I somehow had yet another hunch… that the answer didn't lied here. I kept both letters and headed down stairs encountering yet… a CLONE. I went, still half scared of it, and asked it what was he exactly, but all it said was going to a renunion. It was futile to get it say anything else, I left the house and I saw Cloud and the other at front of the Inn. It seemed that Cloud almost got in trouble with the owner of the Item shop, but nothing serious. We all decided to stay the night and rest. For the first time, I didn't want to rest even though it must've been the nicest Inn. I had been in throughout this journey. I didn't like this town… it was nothing but a nightmare, and I'm sure Cloud and Tifa felt the same but in a worst position… after all, they were the ones that were reliving it… I was just passing by.

…

The next morning we decided to leave the buggy here, we couldn't take it with us through Mt. Nibel. As we passed a huge Mansion that was located a little further from the town, there was this clone that bumped into us, but its words caught every one's attention.

_The…great…Se…phiroth…is near… in…side… the…mansion._

My heart started to pound as I stared at the mansion. Cloud told us that he was going to investigate it before we leave. Tifa, Red, Cait Sith and I followed. The rest stayed and decided to wait for us.

The mansion… was the only thing part of the town that was untouched, I could somehow tell because every step we took made the floor creek. It felt like walking into a haunted mansion, it gave me the feeling that at any given moment something was going to immerged from the floor, the walls or the ceiling itself and spook my living souls out. Nothing like that happened, but Cloud warned us not to let our guard down. On the second floor there was a secret passage and we went inside of it. Now this place was full of dark, creepy monsters. They were also strong and very unexpected. There was a particularly monster that gave us quite a hard time, and it had to be the most disturbing and ugliest of them all. It was this shape-like zombie that it had two heads, and every time we attack it gave out a disturbing laugh. When it seemed to be down at last it lunged at me. _Yes, attack the weakest of the party, nice strategy!_ It scratched me, and I felt my whole being trembling and tears felt. I didn't want to die, especially not here. Cloud run to helped me but, something was shining bright, and its light was warm and it reassured me. I somehow stood up and with my knife I separated the two heads giving them their very own one arm and one leg. It felt and begun to dissolved into the ground.

As I rested part of my body on the wall I noticed that my knife was the thing shining bright and strong. It reminded me of a lightsaver, only mine was gold color. It started to vanished slowly, and it was gone.

"Cynthia… are you alright?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah… no problem at all… " I was still trembling, I put away my knife and when I let my whole body rest on the wall I slowly started to felt backwards until I had open the wall and entered another room while I heard everyone speak my name with worry. "Ouwy! Who's idea was this?" I said sobbing my head.

"Cynthia, you sure are a magnet for danger! Here…" Tifa offered her hand so she could help me get up.

"Where are we?" I asked looking around but soon regretting it. There were tombs in here "Oh no! We're inside a graveyard!" I said putting my hands on my head.

"Don't worry, they're dead and probably empty Cynthia." Tifa said as Cloud approached the tomb that was in the middle of the room.

"Are you sure?" I asked still watching the room like if something was going to emerged from one of tombs and… eat us. "Then let get out of here, nothing to find here… I'm sure. I started to move backwards, but Tifa took my arm and made me approached even more inside the room.

"Don't worry, nothing is going to happen! There nothing in these tombs!" she said and almost instantly there was this deep voice that echoed in the room.

_Who dares to disturb my nightmare…? _

My body reached below zero degree F○. The tomb that was in the middle burst open, making me scream and hide behind Tifa and someone was rising from it slowly. It was a man with pale white skin, crimson-red eyes and long black hair, and he appeared to be wearing black clothing and a red cape. He stared at us.

"So, just empty tombs, huh?" I whispered to Tifa.

"I said_ probably_ empty tombs, and he seems to be alive." Tifa whispered back.

"Sure, but now we're facing Dracula's son!" I whispered back.

"I don't know you… you should leave." Dracula's son said.

"Wait, you were having a nightmare?" Cloud asked him.

"Yes, this mansion is the beginning of my nightmare and if you don't leave, it'll be yours as well… "he answered.

"You're right… this mansion _is_ the beginning of my nightmare… Sephiroth found all his secrets here, and he destroyed my town and its people."

"I think we should leave… can we at least talk in a nice sunny free-monster zone place?" I whispered to Tifa, and suddenly they both asked to each other: "You know Sephiroth?" that called my attention for sure.

He then stepped out of the tomb. He was sure tall, and he was sort of handsome as well.

"You first… "he asked for Cloud to tell his story.

Cloud explained and re-told his story once more, sat crossed-legged near Red. As Cloud told his story, it gave me time to refresh details and to rest. When he finished, he asked for Dracula's son to share his story.

"I… cannot speak. What you said had yet added upon me another sin." He went back to his tomb and I heard Tifa said to him that she was disappointed. Cloud stopped him once more and insisted on at least a name. "I am formally a Turk, Vincent. Sephiroth… he was born from a beautiful lady name Lucrecia… I should've stopped her… I couldn't, that is my sin." That confused me even more.

"Wasn't Sephiroth born from Jenova?" Cloud said stealing once more the words from my mouth.

"That is only partly true…that's… enough… now I must atone for my sins…" He went back to his tomb and asked to let him sleep. We were all exiting the room, and Vincent soon called upon us.

"Will I meet a man name Hojo?"he asked.

"… Probably, we are after Sephiroth. We're probably run into them sooner or later." Cloud finally said.

"Then it is settle, I will go with you. I as a former Turk may be of some use to you." Vincent said, but he's face expressed no emotion or maybe just one. Cloud agreed and we went deeper into the basement. We finally entered a room, which looked like Frankenstein's laboratory, and it was filled with a never-ending row of books. Suddenly I caught sight of a person wearing a black cape, he had a long silvery-white hair that reach his legs and even from the distance I could see his blue-eyes that shone like a cat's. He lunge a look at me and made chills went up my spine.

"Cloud… " I said, calling his attention. He went towards me and caught sight of the person with the black cape.

"Stay here… all of you." He went towards the man and after a few minutes the person through at Cloud a green materia and flew away. That spoke me completely.

"Who was that? He… he flew!"I asked feeling the familiar cold inside my stomach.

"That was Sephiroth… " Tifa answered with distaste.

…

_Best chapter I had wrote in a short amount of time! I like it, I hope I can keep writing like this and improve some more. Anyways, one more character to go, and I speed things up a little! OMAIGAIHSUN! I hope I can finish the story just like I plan to. Now, will Cynthia will able to stop the unavoidable or will it still happened? Will she survive until the end? Who knows, she just discovered her inner power [Limit Break]! Stay tune, next chapter The Captain! Please, you like then review, you don't review and help me improve! Thank you for reading, hoping that you enjoyed it! ^,^ _


	17. Chapter 17

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 17: The Captain

Sephiroth was still on my mind. I knew it in my bones that he was strong… and evil. He scared me, but I didn't want that feeling to consume me. I needed to be brave, and I needed to become stronger. I also wanted to make that strange technique to happen more often. As we travel across Mt. Nibel, Red gave me some pointers for me to summon that light of beam from my knife once more, still nothing happened.

As we exited the mountains, Cloud said that we should split up. He wasn't sure how the Shinra were following, so he wanted to avoid attention. We were to meet up in a town near here that was call Rocket Town. I was to be with Aeris, Red and Vincent, the rest went along with Cloud. I gave a small curious look to Vincent, and couldn't help to think that maybe he was a vampire. I mean… sleeping inside a coffin for how long, 30 years? He was also pale, and his eyes were crimson red too. I had to admit, he scared me.

The trip gave us no hard time, but it was getting late. It was getting dark as well and still no sign of any nearby town. I was also missing the buggy too, it was very convenient but we have decided to leave it behind. The trip was also silent, no conversation were involved. This gave me enough time to think, unfortunately. Finally never late than ever, I spotted a town at distance.

"That's got to be Rocket Town! Right?" I asked out loud breaking the silence.

" It must be… we should hurry, is already dark." Red answered.

"Yoopee! Say… Vincent, that's a really cool gun" I said trying to make conversation with him, but he just stared at me and nodded. I felt kind of dumb, for a few seconds… but I shook it off.

…

Cloud and the others were already at the Inn. Tifa had separated a couple of rooms for us, and I immediately went in one of them. It was a spacious, nice room, with a fair size bathroom. I went in, took a fast shower and as I exited the tub I took a few moments to look myself at the mirror. I wanted my blonde hair back, so I began to wash my hair with lots of shampoo on the sink and all I saw was red ink that it even looked like blood go down the sink's drain. After 10 minutes of washing, I went and took another look at the mirror again. My red hair wasn't so red anymore… but it was still red. I gave up and I dried off with the hair drier that was in the bathroom's door. I hoped that after a couple of more washing my hair color would be back.

…

It was late, and I wasn't sleeping yet. In fact, I was wide awake regardless the fact that I was tired. I gave up sleeping so, I headed out of the room and went to the bar that was inside the Inn as well. I asked the bartender if they cooked food, and I ended up eating stewed rice with some kind of chicken covered in brownish sauce. It was good enough, but I was now worried about what was going to happen in the future. This is primary what I wanted to avoid thinking. It got stronger after we left Nibelheim. _What have really happened 5 years ago? _ Is not that I don't believe Cloud, it's just that some things don't match up. Who are the CLONEs? I thought that it has been Sephiroth all along, but it was actually the CLONEs going around places asking for something called the Black Materia. What was this renunion and what was it going to happen once it takes place? What is Sephiroth true intention? So many questions burst at once, and no answer to pleased them was available. I headed out the Inn, it must've been pass midnight, I started to practice some of Tifa's moves. I was getting good, and I had synchronized everything now. There was no one out to judge me, the townspeople were all probably in their houses sleeping and after a while I dropped to the floor with sweat running down my forehead. I hated when things don't make sense. If Aeris were here she would just probably say, that the answers would come in time. _I know they would, but what if you need to search for them… what then?_

"Why does it feel like something really bad is going to happen?" I said to myself out loud, still crossed-legged.

"Worry about the future?" a deep voice said from behind, making me jump up on my legs in a matter of seconds. It was Vincent, I didn't even feel him come close. He stared at me with his red-crimson eyes, but they invoked kindness.

"Oh, yes… a little bit." I suddenly stared at his feet and the question that had formulated in my head escaped my lips "What happened to you?"

He wasn't expecting the question and I was sure he was going to ignore me "This is… my punishment for my sins… I'm… " he glace at me for a moment then he continued "I had been experimented on… that's all you need to know." He was about to turned, but I approached him.

"I'm sorry! I was, just curious… I mean… you said you used to be one of the Turks, so I was just wondering… if you could answer me some questions about Sephiroth." I said nervously.

"What do you want to know?"

"What exactly is Sephiroth…? I mean, you said he was born from someone named Lucrecia, yet he told Cloud five years ago he was born from Jenova."

"Sephiroth… isn't a Cetra. He has been experimented on since before birth… he host Jenova cells. That's all you need to know, the rest you will know in time…" he closed his eyes and turned to leave. I followed and went to walk by his side.

"Ok… Vincent, one last thing, promise… you're a very kind person… thank you." I felt that I needed to say it after thinking he was the scariest person I have ever meant… he was just a serious person, who had an ugly past behind him. He just gave me a small glance, and I gave him a smile and went back to the Inn.

…

**I was running inside a dark cave, there were plenty of monsters, and I was alone. I was looking for everyone after slaying every monster that appeared in front of me. My heart was pounding fast, and I was sure I saw Cloud at the other side from where I stood. He gave me the signal to follow him and I did. I run and constantly yelled at Cloud to wait for me, but he didn't slow down. His answer was that Sephiroth was close. When I finally caught up to him, he was just staring up. He was motionless.**

_**Cloud, what is wrong? **_**I approached him and he turned to look, his eyes were shinning because of the Mako in him as Aeris had explained to me once. His stare was cold, and it made my stomach cold. **_**What's going on? **_**I finally noticed he was carrying a long sword instead of his blade. In a matter of seconds he stabbed the sword in my stomach. **_**Why?**_** When I look again, Cloud's face was vanishing and Sephiroth was the one stabbing me. His face had a malevolence grin on. **_**It's all over…**_** and I woke up. **

I was alone in the room; the others were probably waiting for me to wake up. I immediately lift the blankets off and check my stomach. The dream had felt so real, it made my hair rose up. "More like a nightmare… " I said under my breath. I got out of bed, and Aeris entered the room.

"Oh, sleeping beauty is finally awake." She said with a warm smile.

"Oh… yes, sorry… Why didn't anyone wake me?" I said trying to shake off the feeling that my nightmare had overwhelmed me.

"Are you ok? You're as pale as the color white." She said getting worried.

"Yes… just… a bad dream… is everyone waiting?" I asked not wanting to talk about my dream.

"Oh yes, everyone is outside the Inn… Apparently, Rufus is on his way to this town. So, don't worry, we're not in a hurry. We can even get breakfast… Come on, it'll make you feel better."

"Yeah… why is Rufus coming here?" I said getting my stuff, and going to the bathroom to wash my face.

"We don't know yet."

…

We exited the Inn after Aeris and I ate breakfast. Cloud and Cait Sith were the only ones waiting outside.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked looking around town, it was a lovely place.

"Tifa and Red wanted to go back to Cosmo Canyon everyone else went with them. We're to meet them there after we figured out Rufus's business here." Cloud answered then turned his face to look up. "What's that?

I look at the same direction as him and noticed there was some kind of rocket. "A… really old… rocket?" We went deeper into town and I soon noticed something big at someone's backyard. "Oh cool, is that a… plane?" I went closer to the fence. "I wonder who it belongs to."

"Hmm… why don't we take it?" Aeris asked Cloud.

"Um, do you think the owner will let us borrow it?" I asked turning my face towards them, and then a new voice appeared right in front of me.

"Can I help you?" it was a woman wearing a lab coat.

"Uh… " I got off the fence, and Cloud asked about the plane.

"If you want to take it, you'll have to talk with the captain."

"Who?" Cloud asked.

"He's inside the rocket, you'll find him there." She then went back inside and Cloud told us to follow.

There was this man wearing a blue jacket and goggles on his head. He suddenly looked like a pilot, and he asked us what we were looking for. Cloud asked for the captain.

"Captain? I'm the captain of this town. The name's Cid! What can I help you with kid?" Cid said with a lot of energy.

"I'm not a kid, the name's Cloud. What's this construction here?" Cloud asked him.

"Not bad for a kid! This here was to be the very first rocket to heads out into space. I was to be the first man outer space…" Cid went along telling his story.

"Told us about the Shinra interests before the discovery of Mako energy, about his dream to become the first man into outer space, about how Shera screwed everything up for him, about Shinra's view in his dream become nothing but numbers… then he seemed depress and kick the wall in front of him. We left him be for the moment, and went back into town. We entered the house were the plane was and Shera asked if we found the captain, seconds later Cid went in and gave us a look.

"Shera! What are you blind? We got some guests here! Serve them some tea! I'm going to check Tiny Broco, and I better have my guests with tea!"

"Um, really don't mind us." Cloud began

"Just sit your ass down and drink you're goddamn tea!" Cid headed out into the backyard, and my mouth just hanged open.

"The nerve!" Aeris started "Is he always like that?"

"Yes, but I don't mind" Shera said "After all, is my fault that his dream was destroyed"

"What happened?" Cloud asked.

Shera explained that during the take off, she wasn't satisfied with the results for the tanks. So she stayed to test them one more time. As Cid was ready to take off, she was still there checking the tanks and asked for him not to worry and to blast off…

"But… he pushed the emergency bottom in order to save my life, and sacrificed his dream in the process. I'm the one that destroyed his dream, so I don't mind serving him."Shera expressed.

It was then that Cid entered back into the house and gave us another look.

"Shera! You slowpoke! Move your ass! Why haven't you served them tea!"he then sat down. "Shinra are late! Why are they making me wait! What about you guys, my hospitality not good enough for you?"

"No, it's good service!" I said worry that he might blow his anger at us or at poor Shera. "So, Shinra is reopening the space-program? That's got to be good news for you?"

"You bet it is! All the Shinra needed was someone with young perspective!" It was then that a fat guy with a brown-suit entered the house and Cid got up.

"Palmer! So, tell me is Rufus really re-opening the space program?"

"I don't know, he's outside, why don't you ask him?" Palmer said with a dumb grin on his face.

"You damn fat &$#%^! You never know anything!" Cid went passed Palmer and went outside.

"Don't call me fat!" he went and gave us a look "Hey, haven't I seen you guys before…Ooh! … Tea, can you please serve me some and don't forget the honey!" he stood next to Shera waiting for his tea. _Wow… that was a blonde moment… _

We exit the house to check on Cid only to hear out that Rufus was crushing his hopes and shutting him off.

"What? You took space from me, now you want to take the sky away too, why do you need Tiny Broco…?" Cid seemed ready blow up.

Shera call us in a second later, and told us to take Tiny Broco. She told us to hurry 'cause Palmer was already outside. As we rushed towards the backyard, Palmer was already inspecting the plane.

"We'll be taking that." Cloud said throwing out his blade.

"Wait, you _do_ look familiar… from when the president was murder!" Palmer was taking out his gun.

"Took you long enough!" I took out my knife, and Aeris put her hand on my shoulder.

"Cynthia, do you think you could drive the plane?" she whispered.

"Um, I could try… but I _never_ in my life ever drove or _seen_ to drive one… I'll start it up, thought." I said, thinking that it was the same as driving a car or a buggy.

Cloud started fighting Palmer, the fat guy may not look it, but he does know how to defend himself. As the fight went, I sneaked my way into Tiny Bronco. I climbed as fast as possible and sat on front of the controller. I went blank as soon as I saw all the bottoms and switches, and meters, and whatever anything else was. I immediately scanned my mind for movies where it involved a person figuring out how to fly a plane and the first one was Indianna Jones. _Shit! Why must this be so complicate. Ok, altitude? Um… no wrong command. Start… start? Oh, this must be the key… where do I put it? Oh, here? Ah! It turned! Oh God, oh God, Oh God… _I went to look outside, and Cloud was whooping Palmer's ass. I accidentally pulled a level, and the plane started to move. I immediately grabbed the wheel, and I tried to control the plane but it started to move forward.

"CLOUD, AERIS, CAIT SITH! HELP!" they immediately jumped on the plane as I passed near them.

"Pull it!" Cloud yelled.

"What! HOW!"

"Just pull the wheel up and push the gas!" Cloud yelled.

"Do you want to die! I'm sixteen! I never ever drove a plane before!"

"Just do it!"

"You do it!"

"No time! CYNTHIA WE'RE GOING TO CRUSH, UP!NOW!"

_Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!_

As I pulled the wheel up and push the gas, the plane gained velocity and it began to lift. In a matter of seconds, we were up in the air while I was still screaming like if it were the first time that I did something crazy. Suddenly, we started to drop fast, and we were heading towards where Rufus was along with two other soldiers and Cid. We passed above them and Cid started to run towards the plane until he jumped on one of the wings.

"Cynthia! _Pull_ it up!" Cloud yelled at me once more.

Suddenly there were shooting coming right behind us and as soon we started to gain altitude, or whatever it's call. We started to drop slowly and ended up crushing on the ocean.

"Damn! The tail's been hit! It won't fly now!"Cid said inspecting the tail.

"Can we use it as a boat?"Cloud asked.

"Do whatever the hell you want!" Cid said as if he given up on something.

"Why did Rufus want your plane?" Cloud asked.

"Don't know, he said something about heading the wrong way. Seem they're after this guy Sephiroth and that they needed to go to some kind of place called… the Temple of the Ancients." Cid said "Say what's your deal with the Shinra? You guys going after Sephiroth?"

"Yes."Cloud nodded.

"Well, don't know what's this is all about, but sign me up numskull!" he said cheerfully.

"Numskull?" Cloud look at him confused and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, anyone dumb enough to challenge Shinra now a day got to be a numskull! I like it!" Cid said with a grin.

"So, do I have to drive this thing again, 'cause I think I'll pass." I said leaving the seat to Cid, and he went and gave out a laugh.

"Not bad for a kid! I might give you some lessons in the future, just in case then, well tell me where to go Cloud." Cid said taking his seat and turning on the plane again.

"Let's search around for information… that name… Temple of the Ancients… it bothers me." He said and we drove Tiny Broco south with no clear heading.

…

Just, REVIEW! ;) OMAGAIHSUN! The party is complete! :D Stay tune, next chapter Betrayal! Hoped you enjoyed reading! ^,^


	18. Chapter 18

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS

Chapter 18: Love, Betrayal… I'm Confused

We went back to look for the buggy. Cloud sent me with Vincent, and told us to meet at Cosmo Canyon. The trip has gained haste since we had two objectives now: Locate the temple and Sephiroth. As we planned everything to where we may look for the information, Cloud decided to go east from where we were. He thought that we may find something there, although all we found was trouble with Yuffie. She appeared to have been planning on stealing our materia from the very start, but she returned it when we saved her from Don Corneo. He made a second appearance and we even had to "team up" with the Turks since Don Corneo had kidnapped Elena as well. They even ignored orders from their bosses for the time being and they let us go. Yuffie showed her trust this time by giving one of her materia to us. She sure gave Cloud a lot of trouble, but I guess she did it all for her country. She decided to continue the journey with us no matter what we say. So, Yuffie was one of us officially now.

After splitting up and agreeing to meet up in 5 days at Cosmo Canyon, Tifa, Cid and Cloud found out from a weapon's seller information about a keystone that could open the Temple of the Ancients. The bad news was that it was sold to a guy named Dio. We needed to get back to Gold Saucer again and find out how to get it.

The trip didn't take long and it was sure exciting to be here, even Red's tail was waging. As we went to the Battle Arena to find Dio, we spotted the keystone among his collections. Just then, he show up, and told us he would give it to us at one condition. He wanted to see Cloud in action, obviously that was a piece of cake for Cloud. He won battle after battle, and won the keystone in the end. Unfortunately more bad news was on the way, the train was having trouble and it needed to be repaired. We needed to stay here for a whole day. Lucky thing was that Cait Sith had contacts here and he arranged for the hotel to have us in for the night until the train's repairs were done. The hotel was scary enough, when we went to the counter someone that appeared to be hanged dropped to the counter, causing me to scream and jump towards the nearest person: Vincent. I bumped into him, tripped and for a couple of seconds I felt a rush of embarrassment overwhelm me. I felt stupid, but Vincent helped me up.

"Anymore surprises?" I asked, giving everyone a good laughter; even Vincent was holding a couple of chuckles. "Uh… you welcome… glad to know you're enjoying yourselves…" I said feeling my cheeks burning.

…

Cloud decided that it was time to fill everyone in with the new information and start matching everything up. It was good to refresh, but it didn't help that much. Barret was still confused and the black cape person, made the whole thing even more confusing.

"How many people with black capes and with the number one tattoo are there?"

"My tattoo is number XIII… " Red said.

"So there are at least 13 of these Clones" Tifa said.

"Who knows… but I still don't get it, what exactly are they? And how come they have this connection with Sephiroth?" I asked trying to match things up.

"I don't know… let's just concentrate on taking down Sephiroth, he's the one that has to be stopped." Cloud said after a few seconds of thinking.

Silence was upon us.

"I'm number XIII, will I go mad as well?" Red asked with a look on his face that clearly show concerned.

"No, you will not!" Tifa said, leveling with him "You're going to be fine."

"But…"Red begun again.

"You're going to be fine." Tifa said forcing a smile.

"I know, but… "

"Red stop it! I said you're going to be fine!" she sort of screamed.

"Tifa? What's wrong?" Cloud asked.

"Nothing, I'm just tired… I'm going up to rest." Tifa said heading up stairs. Something was wrong, she was acting strange lately.

"I think that's a good idea, let's all rest up for tomorrow." Cait Sith said following after Tifa. We all did the same.

…

I was with Red and Aeris. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, and suddenly she got up.

"Where are you going Aeris?" I asked getting up from bed.

She smiled and put her arms behind her. "I'm going on a date with Cloud."

"Oh, well… wait what?" I asked suddenly confused.

"We're going to have fun, besides, I owe him a date" she said still smiling and went out of the room.

I stared at Red and he stared back. "Did I hear right?" I asked him and he just shrugged. After a few seconds of analyzing it… "Red, come with me!" I jumped towards where my boots were, and pushed Red out of the room.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"We're going to follow them of course!" I whispered at him while getting out of the room.

"Following who?" Yuffie said from behind us.

We both turned. "Cloud and Aeris are going on a date around Gold Saucer!" I whispered to her while stopping Red from getting back inside the room.

"No way!" Yuffie shouted.

"Ssshh! Keep your voice down… we're going to follow them! I'm super curious!"

"I'm totally in! Let's go!"

…

We spotted Aeris and Cloud on our way out of the hotel. They were heading towards the station. Yuffie, Red and I followed them while Yuffie and I were trying to hold our laughter. We spotted them heading towards the Event Square, apparently all attractions were free tonight, and Aeris was dragging "poor" Cloud. We kept our distance, but enough to hear that they were the lucky couples that were going to make it for the show tonight. _Oh God, the show is doomed!_

"How unlucky can one get?" Yuffie began as we were looking for three available sits "I mean, Cloud clearly has an "I so don't want to do this" face."

"I know, but it's so weird, I always though Cloud and Tifa had something, still… Aeris seems to be very enthusiasm about this date… What do you think Red?" I asked trying not to take side on who seems to be a better couple.

"I think we should go back to our rooms and stop this nonsense… we should give them privacy. They can do whatever they want." Red said taking a sit.

"Ok." I said sitting beside him and tried to whole a smile "Nobody is forcing you to spy on Cloud and Aeris' date" I said showing him the exit. He didn't move "Aha, you do want to spy on them as well" I said giving him a wide grin and then gave a look to Yuffie who was enjoying herself as well.

"Whatever… " Red said trying to hide his face, we all began to laugh and the lights went off.

…

"**An evil dragon appeared over the peaceful Kingdom of Galdia… Princess Rosa was just kidnapped by the evil dragon King, Valvados. What will become of her? Just then a legendary hero, Alfred, appears!"**

**Cloud seemed that he was pushed into the scene; he seemed confused and didn't say a word. He just stared at the crowd and shrugged. Soon after, someone wearing a white-blue armor appears with great exaggerated acting from behind Cloud.**

**Knight: "Oh… You must be the legendary hero… Alfred!" he seemed to be whispering something to Cloud, but Cloud just stares back at him and sort of shrugged. **_Yuffie, I whispered, whole you're laugh, no one is laughing! She stares at me with a wide smile and tells me I'm laughing as well. I deny it, but clearly… we're both laughing and we could promise Red was chuckling as well. _**Knight: "Oh… You must be the legendary hero… Alfred!"…"**Yes you**" Cloud just looks confuse and shrugs once more. **

**Knight: "I know in my soul. Please… please, save the princess" he gets to his knees "Please! Save Princess Rosa! Now! Talk to the King!"**

**A traditional, medieval fat king appears. "Oh legendary hero! You have come at last! You surely have come to save my beloved Rosa… Oh on the peak of a Dangerous mountain… dwells the evil dragon King, Valvados… who kidnapped Princess Rosa… But! You can't beat the evil dragon now. Talk to the one who can help you!"**

**A wizard appears. Wizard: I am the great wizard, Vorman! What do you wish to know?**

**Clouds stares at the wizard and asks for the dragon's weakness.**

**Wizard: "Ah! The weakness of the evil dragon, it must be… it must be!...Yes it must be… True Love! The power of love is the only weapon that can withstand the fangs of the evil dragon King! Oh what is going to happen next! Oh… legendary hero! Look!"**

**A fake dragon drops into the scene holding Aeris.**

**Valvados: "Gaaaaaah! I am the evil dragon King… Valvados! I have not harm the princess, for I have been expecting you!"**

**Aeris: "Please help me… legendary Hero!" **She turn to the dragon and whispers something. **

**Valvados: "Here I come! Gaaaah!"**

**Wizard: "Oh, legendary Hero, here is what will happened… A KISS, the power of love is the only means to stop Valvados, the evil dragon King!"**

**Clouds stares… walks towards to Aeris, gets on his knees and takes Aeris' hand and kiss it.**

**The dragon cries in pain and leaves. Everyone exit the scene claiming that they will now celebrate with a feast.**

"**Oh how profound the power of love… And so the legendary hero Alfred and our story lives on happily ever after."**

"That… " I began after the lights went back on and the medieval music ended "… was interesting."

"Yeah… bummer, I was expecting more action." Yuffie said stretching.

"I can't believe Cloud only said 6 words throughout the whole play… " I said, we all looked at ourselves and laughed some more. The comments and laughing continued until we reached the station, even Red participated. He was waging his tail.

…

Aeris and Cloud headed off alone, we lost track of them, but didn't try to follow them. Red was right, they do need their private moment, so we were off to Wonder Square to have some fun. When we got there we spotted Cait Sith. He seemed nervous even for a stuffed animal. He saw us and told us we should go back to the hotel and rest up. We said we would after a few games, when he went off, I remembered something.

"Hey Cait Sith!" I went after him.

"Yes, what can I do for you?" he turned.

"Um… I'm curious… Cloud said that you joined our… team because you wanted to see through the end a fortune you foretold Cloud."

"Yes" he was getting distracted.

"Can you pretty please tell me the fortune?" I asked.

"Sure… 'What you're looking for will be yours, but you will lose something dear.' "

"That's it? What is that suppose to mean?" I asked retelling myself the fortune in my mind.

"I don't know, that's the first time I foretold a fortune like that… why do you ask?"

"Oh… no real reason. Say, changing the topic… do you know something I could use to get my hair's color back?" I asked trying to end the previous topic.

"Um, actually… why don't you go to the hotel and ask for a bottle called 'Holy Water' that stuff cleans anything. Well, I must be off… go back to the hotel." He turned and left.

"What was that about?" Yuffie asked.

"I was wondering if that fortune could tell us something, but it left me just as blank as before…" I said.

"Oh, not that… what do you want with holy water… wait, you're hair's not red?" she asked me as if she couldn't believe it.

"No, I dyed it red… and now, I really want my hair's color back."

…

After we were done with Wonder Square we decided to go back to the hotel, but soon Yuffie remembered about the Battle Arena. She reminded us that we still needed to prove our strength and told us we should head there before we leave.

"Oh, yeah, let's go! We only got one night and ALL attractions are free." I said cheerfully.

"Maybe you can practice you're light beam there. Perfect place and the battle stops when they see you can't go on no more." Red said, getting excited as well.

We all headed ourselves there. The rules were, only one fighter gets to go to the arena. Yuffie went first and she whooped a total of 6 battles. I went ahead next. I had taken some damage, but I continued to get up, I tried numerous times to summon that light beam from my knife, but no good. A total of 4 battles were upon me, and the monsters continued to get stronger, or maybe I was getting weaker. I didn't want to leave until at least I could summon that light beam again. My left leg hurt like hell, but I continued forward. I heard Red telling me to retreat as the 5th battle began... _Not yet… _I needed this power. I needed to be useful. My team needed me strong. My friends can't keep covering me from the enemy. As the monster claws scratch part of my shoulder on the back, I felt that warm light getting inside me, and in a matter of seconds, the gold beam appeared and I beheaded the monster.

I knew how to summon it now, or at least I hoped. I retreated, and let Red get his turn now, I gave a wide smile to them and they said I needed to treat my injuries soon after Red finishes.

"Nice Cynthia, maybe you're not as weak as I thought you were." Yuffie said patting my back making the injury hurt even more. "Or… maybe you're just lucky." She giggled and so did I.

…

We finally got back to the hotel, I have won a "ninja knife" called _ke zhan _as Yuffie said recommended by Dio himself. Said _ke zhan_ was ten times harder than my kitchen knife, as he called it, and was a foot longer too. It had a funny shape, and it also had an inner hole that took the shape of the knife as well. It seemed cool and now I needed to practice with it as well. I went into the room with Red, and Aeris was already inside the room.

"So, how did your date go?" I asked, but soon noticing her long face. She turned to look at me, and faked smiled.

"It went amazing; Cloud and I were in a play and all… he isn't the romantic type though." She said, but I knew she was hiding something. I didn't questioned her, just smiled back.

"Ok… tell me what's wrong later."

"…Ok, I will… the date went fine, just in case. Something happened, but I'll let you know later" and she went to bed. Red gave us both a look, and went to sleep on the spot he claimed his for tonight.

I in the other hand went into the bathroom, and began washing my hair once again. I also scanned my body for wounds. Yuffie's restored materia worked like… like magic. They were all healed. As I dropped the water on my hair I noticed a mass of red ink going down the drain. I dried my hair with a towel and… I was in shock when I looked myself in the mirror.

"I'm Blonde again!" I smile recognizing my hair's true color. I felt normal and at peace, now… I was more than ready to continue this journey. I just wish… I could shake off this feeling that something really bad was going to happened.

…

_ Wow, I think I did a good job here. By the way, just in case you're wondering, ke zhan is the literal meaning of "Can Stand" in Chinese. I thought that description fits my character well. Cynthia does know about Cait Sith betrayal in the next chapter, but I'm going to skip that discussion, I think it's unnecessary for the moment… might change my mind thought. Anyways, I gave you some humor (I hope) and I gave you a little side quest to. Let me know your opinion… Soooooooo REVIEW! [Good or Bad, is welcome ^,^ ] Thank you for reading! _


	19. Chapter 19

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 19: Temple of the Ancients

Cid indeed taught me how to drive the plane. He kept giving me instructions so I wouldn't mess up as we drove on the ocean towards a land at the East south where we assumed the Temple of the Ancients would be. Aeris was with us, and she seemed serious for the first time. The only talkative here was Cid, Vincent and Cait Sith joined us as well. The rest waited for us at Gongaga.

_I still can't believe Cait Sith is the spy…_

As we reached land, Aeris dropped at her knees and said that the Temple of the Ancients was near, she led us through some kind of tropical forest, which it contained very poisonous monsters. My heal materia came in handy and I was glad I went into that battle arena at Gold Saucer, it was excellent practice. We finally got through the forest and there was a golden pyramid. It reminded me of the Mexican's pyramid from my history class. There was a mural surrounding it as well, as we began crossing an old bridge, Aeris went pass by us (Vincent, Cloud and me) and she dropped completely on the mural's entrance.

"This… is the temple of the Ancients… I… I know… I feel it… the knowledge of the ancients… floating. You could become one with the Planet… but… you're stopping it with the strength of will. For the future? For us?" she said while laying face down on the floor. I was worried now and all I did was look at Cloud and then at Aeris. Vincent remained silence. Cloud went towards her now.

"What are you saying? I don't understand." Cloud said a little concerned.

"You're uneasy… but happy? Because I'm here? I'm sorry… I don't understand." She finally stood up and told us she wanted to go inside.

"Is the planet speaking to you?" I asked getting lost all of the sudden.

"No, it's the ancients… I want to go inside." And we all followed behind Aeris. As we went up the steps, we spotted a CLONE which lay on the floor motionless. As soon as we approached, it moved… _Black… Materia… _was all he said. It had a 9 tattoo and suddenly… he dissolved into some kind of light… and disappeared. I asked what had happened to it, and Aeris said he turned into lifestream. I didn't understand what she meant, but we continued forward into the Temple's entrance.

As we arrived into a small room where in the middle resided sand, we spotted Tseng from the Turk. The man who I first challenged at the slum and got my butt kicked had now a serious injury.

"I've been had… It's not the promise land Sephiroth's searching for… " he began saying to us.

"Sephiroth? He's inside!" Cloud asked half surprise.

"Look for yourself… Damn! Letting Aeris go was the start of my… bad luck! The president… was wrong… " Tseng said.

"_You're wrong_. The Promised Land isn't what you imagined. And I'm not going to help… either way… there's no way Shinra could've won." Aeris said to Tseng.

"Pretty harsh. Sounds like something you'd say… " he stood up and pain was shown in his face, he began walking towards Cloud and gave him the keystone "The keystone… place it on the altar." He turned and Aeris gave him the back, I think I saw a tear dropped from Aeris's cheek.

"You're crying?" Cloud asked her.

"Tseng is our enemy, but I known him since I was very little… I can't say that to too many people… in fact there is but a handful of people who really knows me." Aeris said cleaning away her tears.

I didn't like the sand that was inside here. It looked like a quicksand, still I wasn't sinking… _yet_. Just then Cloud placed the keystone on the altar and we began sinking. I got scared because we went into the sand too fast and for a couple of moments was unable to breath. Everything went black and suddenly I heard Aeris voice and woke up in a completely different place. It kind of looked like a labyrinth of stairs.

We had caught up into some kind of old man wearing blue robes which covered his face. Aeris told us that the ancients had forgotten power of word, which they didn't really need because they only had one objective in the temple. They led Aeris to a place were it contained the ancients' consciousness. We were at front of some kind of circular pool and soon Aeris said that evil was inside the temple, and they (the ancients' consciousness) were going to show us. Suddenly, an image of Tseng and Elena appeared. Tseng seem to be collecting data with Elena, he sent Elena to report and doubted what he was seeing.

"This can't be the Promise Land…" he began saying and suddenly an image of Sephiroth appeared. "Sephiroth!"

"Stupid fools… I'm only interested in the ancient's knowledge… I shall become one with the Planet. " Sephiroth had his sword in his hand.

"What are you saying?" Tseng asked to Sephiroth who was now laughing.

"… I will meld with it all. I will become one with it. It will become one with me. The way… lies here. Only death awaits you all. But do not fear… " he slashed Tseng with his sword making me cover my mouth with both my hands. "For it is through death that a new spirit energy is born. Soon you will live again as a part of me." The image vanished and I lunge a look at Vincent.

"He's mad!" was all I said. We all needed to hurry towards the room with the pictures, now. As we entered such room, Cloud went forward and called Sephiroth. The guy never stops surprising me, he actually answered Cloud's call, and was now at front of us. I suddenly found myself armed with _ke zhan_, I felt a sudden rush of adrenaline which had my heart pound uncontrollably.

"So cold… I'm always by your side." Sephiroth said to Cloud. _What is that suppose to mean? _"Splendid… a treasure of knowledge."

"I don't understand what you're saying." Cloud said with irritation.

He lunge a look at Cloud and gave a malevolence grin "I shall become one with the planet… "

Aeris went forward and I went behind her, I was worry that Sephiroth might attack us like he did to Tseng. "How do you intent to do it?"

"Every time the Planet suffers an injury, it gathers lifestream energy to heal itself… now imagine an injury big enough that endangers the Planet's life… think how much energy it would gather…. At the center of that core… will be me."

"I said it once and I'll say it again… you're crazy! How do you intent to injure the planet?" I said without knowing from where I had gathered the courage to say that to Sephiroth.

"With the ancients' ultimate destructive magic… Meteor." He said looking straight to me with his shinning blue eyes… it took me back to my nightmare once more, he suddenly vanished and Cloud ran after him.

Suddenly Cloud started acting strange. He was staring at a picture that resembled the huge meteor dropping from the sky. He started to laugh weirdly as well. "Ha Ha Ha… Meteor. Black… Materia." _what was wrong with Cloud?_ I was suddenly afraid.

"Cloud! Get a hold of yourself!" Aeris yelled and he was back to normal. He explained what Sephiroth had said.

"What's wrong?" Cloud asked us. I gave a look to Aeris and she answered that nothing was wrong, and we hurry into figuring how to take the Black Materia. We kind of figured out that the Black Materia was the temple itself and every time the puzzle was solved, the temple would shrink until it fit inside a palm.

"So… maybe we should leave it here?" I said, thinking if Sephiroth hadn't got it out yet, then maybe he couldn't.

"No! Sephiroth has too many puppets and he wouldn't care one dying for him! We must get it out and keep it safe from him!" Cloud told me and suddenly his phone rang. It was Cait Sith. He told Cloud that he had an idea, and to meet him on the temple's exit. He at first didn't want to trust him, but in the end… we had no other choice. We agree to meet up to him.

As we were trying to open the door… a monster emerged through the wall, I was in shock to see such a horrible thing. It took us a great deal of time to take it down. But we managed to defeat it. When we were finished Vincent lunge a look at me.

"What?" I asked him.

"You're bleeding… " he went towards me while I was trying to define what he meant.

"Where?" I asked while taking my hand to my forehead. I had blood on the side of my forehead. I wasn't bleeding much, but Vincent told me to take it easy until we get out of this place.

Cait Sith suddenly bursts inside, and he was jumping excitingly. He began telling us his plan; he would solve the puzzle and his stuffed body would be the one being crushed. We would be able to get the Black Materia. It was a perfect plan…

"But what will happen to you?" I asked.

"Don't worry, my body is just a toy after all, another Cait Sith will probably come." He answered cheerfully.

"Cait Sith... " I knew he was a spy and what he previously done… still, he was our friend "I hope to see you again soon."

"Gee, thanks Cynthia. Well, I better get going!" Cait Sith was turning to leave, but Aeris stopped him. She asked for a fortune. "Well, why not? I haven't done it in a while, what do you want to know?"

"How about, how compatible Cloud and I are?" She smiled while going beside Cloud. I saw him blushed.

He began doing the fortune telling thing… then he turned. "Poor Tifa… "

"Please tell me, I won't get mad." Aeris said.

"Ok, you and Cloud are perfect for each other, both of your stars shine bright… "Cait Sith was fidgeting a lot now, then he left saying that we were see each other later.

…

The temple suddenly turned black, and it began to slowly shrink until there was nothing but a huge empty hole where the pyramid once stood. We rushed to pick the Black Materia while Vincent stood watch. Cloud took the Black Materia, sadly it wasn't quite safe. Suddenly Sephiroth appeared out of nowhere. I took _ke zhan_ out and begged for some light beam to appear. I was feeling that same warmness, but there was nothing.

"I wonder… " Sephiroth vowed down on one of his knee "Wake up!"

"Aaaghh!" Cloud was losing control once again. Nothing was making sense now,_ could he have the ability to control people? He does appears out no where most of the time…_

"Not this time!" I felt tears drop down my cheek, I ran at Sephiroth, I was about to slash him with my _ke zhan_, a golden light beam appeared and… he was suddenly in front of me, less than a step away.

"Don't interrupt… " he locked his emotionless eyes on mine and I felt a strong force pushing me away. I bumped hard into the wall and _ke zhan_ flew the other direction. My back hurt a lot and I began coughing. I suddenly saw Cloud give the Black Materia to Sephiroth. "Good boy." He smiled and flew away. Cloud dropped backwards and he began asking what has he done, I got to my feet.

"This is bad… " I said under my breath.

_**What… what have I done? I gave him the black materia? Aeris, what have I done!**_

What's going on, why have this happened. Cloud… he looked like he was about to break, he was in agony. I knew he was, I could see it.

_**Don't worry, it's not your fault… Cloud, is okay.**_

Suddenly, Cloud began losing it again, and he hit Aeris. I panicked, and I went between them. "Cloud! Please stop this!" he had his hand on his head and he was about to punch me, I blocked his fist and gave him a jab, I heard something crack. I thought that I broke his face, because he felt backwards. I did indeed, and somehow, knocked him down, I open my right hand and I have fractured, I think, my knuckles. Vincent was suddenly by my side. I turn to check on Aeris, she was fine, but she looked rather depressed. _Who wouldn't be?_

"We should leave this place… _now_" Vincent said picking Cloud up. "We're tried figuring everything later… " and we left.

…

Yuffie healed most of my injuries, she even got a gauntlet for my right hand. Everyone was waiting for Cloud to wake up. I went outside the little inn, and Yuffie called out to me.

"Cynthia, you should rest up… you've been through a lot!" Yuffie said.

"I know… but I just can't rest… I don't understand! I was there Yuffie! I can't understand a thing! How… how did Cloud gave the Black Materia to Sepphiroth! I don't get why! He's too strong to do such a thing, he's also smart, and he's relationship with Sephiroth appears to be one of rivalry. _So why_… I need to walk off my thoughts, and I_" I thought more carefully " We need answers, we can't continue to take off without a heading, what Sephiroth has plan is 100 times worst than we imagined… I mean, he actually want to be a god? I'm so mad, and scared… it consumes me." Yuffie just stood there speechless. She just told me to be careful and I went on with my walk.

As I was exiting Gongaga, I saw Aeris a little away from where I was. I ran after her and when I was near, she turned to greet me… _or was it to say good-bye?_

"Hey Aeris! Where are you heading?" I asked her taking her side.

"Hello Cynthia, I haven't had the time to tell you, but you look great in blonde." She smiled sweetly as always.

""Oh, thank you… " I started to comb my hair with my fingers. "So, where are you going?"

"I have to do something by myself, I'll come back when I'm finish… so don't worry."

"Oh… but do you have to do it alone?"

"Yes, I have to. Oh, don't look so gloom." I was worry, why did I feel like something bad was going to happen. "You've grown, that punch you drew at Cloud was very unexpected, take care of him for me while I'm gone."

"Oh, well, ok? Why me?" I asked not really knowing what she meant.

"Because, who better to take care of him than his little sister" she winked at me "Your hair even matches the part… I'm kidding, but do watch out for him, if he doesn't take care he might have a breakdown." She giggled a little.

"Ok… Aeris?" I said feeling a sudden burn on my face, I ran at her and gave her a hug. She has been such a good friend to me, I didn't want her to leave. She returned the hug as well. "_Please, take care… please, be careful_." I said feeling my tears drop.

"I will. Take care of everyone." She left…

I returned to Gongaga and Cloud still hadn't waked up. _Gosh… I didn't punch him that hard… _I told Yuffie to wake me when Cloud was awake. I really hoped that we can find a way to stop Sephiroth… before it was too late. I dropped on the bed and allowed my body to rest. _I was going to need the energy soon._

… 

_ OMAGIAHSUN! You all know what's going to happen in the next chapter. Personally, that scene… was rather shocking; I could've expected a thousand more scenes except the one that took place. Next chapter: "Aeris plan failed?" There will be like less than 10 chapter away, the end is near now. A thousand thanks for the one who been reading my story, and hope you can continue liking it and enjoining it! Now… PLEASE REVIEW! Let me know my flaws and my strength ^,^ _


	20. Chapter 20

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 20: Aeris is Gone…

Cloud hasn't been himself lately, and lately our journey for us to save the planet has become quieter. We needed to catch up to Aeris, because as soon as Cloud woke up, he told us that Aeris was on her way towards the "City of the Ancients"… and so was Sephiroth. _I should've stopped her, or at least gone with her… but I didn't… all I did was watch._ This was now a race, and we needed to win or else… we would all die or so I though, we needed the Black Materia back before Sephiroth uses it. Cloud said to head north and so we went.

Cloud divided us into two parties: Tifa, Cid and myself went with him, the others went to look for another root to head North. We managed to go through a place a called Bone Village, after acquiring the **Lunar Harp** we went through a forest called "Sleeping Forest" without the **Lunar Harp** we would have gotten lost. The monster here reminded me of ocean creatures, and for some reason this place goes by the name Coral. We search the whole place for Aeris, but it was getting late and we manage to find a place to rest, which it was very cozy. I landed on one of the beds, and wondered how the others were doing, after all we took Tiny Broco to get here, and 20 minutes later Yuffie burst into the place causing Cid to jump.

"Where the hell did you came from! And where are the others?" for the first time I noticed that Cid had cowboy accent, which it reminded me of my world.

Yuffie giggled "Oh they're outside! I'm checking the place, you never know what you might find in a place like this, but whatever I might find I can take it down in a fraction of seconds! Hiya!" She began posing in attack form, and began doing some under cuts. I got off from the bed, and headed out, it was already night time… but I couldn't rest knowing that Sephiroth was out there… and he was after Aeris. Tifa said that we should all get some rest before heading out again, everyone agreed, but Cloud was quieter than he usually is… in fact he looked depressed. I didn't like where all this was going, and somehow… deep inside, I had a hunch that something terrible was going to happened… I read once that when you had a hunch it's because your mind had subconsciously acquired important details along the way. I didn't know how true this was, but I was afraid of it.

I headed out for a walk, and as I exited the place I heard Red calling out to me, I turned to look and he had his concern face. "This place is dangerous; taking a walk at this time and by yourself isn't the wisest choice." He took my side.

" I know, but I can't take a nap knowing Sephiroth is after Aeris, and if I stay here, I'll go crazy…" I began trying to argue so that Red lets me have my "midnight walk", but unable to noticed that he meant that he would accompany me.

"I know, that's why I'm going with you." He said while getting passed me.

"Oh…"

As we walk around, the place actually seemed serene, in fact there were no monsters, and the place was nice… well, it would have been a nice place to be with friends, but Aeris was missing. _Where could she be?_

We sat down at a place that looked like a cabin, and sea like plants or rocks surrounded it. We were silent, but I knew Red was thinking more or less the same thing.

"What happened at the Temple?" Red broke the ice. I sigh and look on the other direction pretending to be looking for something.

"I really don't know… Cloud, just handled to Sephiroth the Black Materia and he got aggressive. It doesn't make sense… nothing makes sense. Do you think Sephiroth has the power to control people? I mean, why not take over a weaker mind? Or how could he possibly be able to do that?"

"I don't know, but Cloud seems to be distracted, he seems different… I don't think Sephiroth can control other people. He would have done it already… but he would surely be capable of making others feel lost and confuse… we'll end up fighting him. I'm sure of it… " Red was very serious, he wasn't even waggling his tail anymore. I felt like breaking into tears, but I didn't. I wasn't ready to face that kind of opponent; he would surely slice me up in a matter of seconds." We both suddenly went silence, then Red got up and said that we should head back. I follow after him, and I had to say it, I needed someone to tell me that everything was going to alright. "Red… "

"What is it?"

"I… I'm scared. I just… don't know what's going to happen anymore, I could actually predict that we could've win anything that got in our way… but now… I just can't."

"Cynthia… " Red came towards me "I'm scared too, but let's not let this fear stop us… someone needs to do something, and save the planet… unless you think life is not worth taking the risk for, we should move on ahead." He didn't let go of my eyes, and showed something that would be the equivalent of a reassuring smile. I smiled too, Aeris would have said the same. "Care for a hug before we head back." I let out a small laugh and leveled down to him and hugged him while he returned it in his own way. I couldn't resist and I began to scratch his head before breaking the hug. He let out a couple of chuckles and put some distance between us. _Yes! I scratch his head! _We were both laughing, but unfortunately it didn't last long. Cloud and Tifa were coming our way and they looked very serious. All Cloud said to us was, that Sephiroth and Aeris were here. My heart began pounding fast and we began to search for Aeris… we needed to find her as soon as possible.

…

We ended up down this mysterious path, it was beautiful in its way, and everything was bright and full of light, and sooner than later, we spotted Aeris. She was in praying position and it seemed like she hadn't noticed us. I was going to approach the first steps to go to her, but Cloud stopped us with just a gesture and he went ahead by himself. I glanced at Tifa and then at Red, they both looked preoccupied. I had my gaze at Cloud this whole time, and suddenly… something was wrong. My heart began to pound even faster now as Cloud was taking his blade out. _What the heck are you doing? Please… Don't. _I had to do something useful in this world… I had to protect my friends. I ran after Cloud and just as soon as Cloud was about to hit Aeris with his sword, I hugged him from behind and tried to push him away from Aeris.

"CLOUD! Please… snap out of it!" I said breaking into tears. He dropped his sword and suddenly he looked confused.

"W-what are you making me do?" he asked more to himself.

"Cloud… is okay… nothing bad happened." I said when suddenly Aeris was looking at Cloud and she gave him her reassuring smile that never failed to surprise me.

Unexpectedly, Sephiroth came down crashing and pierced Aeris through with his long sword taking away her life. I was in shock, and tears came down… I dropped to my knees while Cloud catch Aeris before she felt on the floor. Sephiroth's green eyes expressed a glorious moment, I was horrified. Words no longer reached me either… _what were they saying…? Why did this happened?_

"…Shouldn't time stop… Aeris, she won't be able to talk, to laugh, to cry… I won't longer hear her voice… My mouth is dry… " Cloud went on talking about Aeris, about how he was feeling and then.

"Are you trying to tell me you got feelings too?" Sephiroth said looking curiously at Cloud, as if he was amusing.

"Of course I have feelings! What do you think I am!" Cloud snapped at Sephiroth.

I got up, trying to get a hold of myself while Red and Tifa were already behind me. Red whispered at me to take out ke zhan. I did, but I… was still in shock, I just couldn't believe any of this. Sephiroth just gave Cloud a malevolence smile, and he flew away, but we could still hear his voice.

_Stop pretending that you have feelings, because… you are but a puppet._

We fight off one of Jenova's part. I tried to summon that light beam, but I couldn't. All I did was throw in Ice Magic. Tifa and Red said their final good-byes to Aeris, who was on the floor lifeless. No voice, no movement, I approached her and dropped to my knees. I caressed her hair, she now looked peaceful, but she always was. I felt Cloud's hand on my shoulder… and began to lift her out of this place. I follow behind, but I had no clear destination. I was just walking with no purpose; like Cloud said… _shouldn't the world stop? _But the world didn't stop. Cloud went to a lake nearby, and he allowed Aeris be consumed into the water. That was the last time I saw Aeris, and I lost all my strength to continue on… _Why did this had to happen?_

…

I was in bed, at the same place as before. I was unable even to think at all. I couldn't piece anything together. Red came towards me, he said that Cloud had something to say to us, and he turned to leave.

"Red… please tell me this is nothing but a nightmare… please tell me that… that this didn't happened… I can't… she couldn't… why did she…" I couldn't even say the word.

"Cynthia… I'm sorry." And he left.

I was crushed, emotionally, but somehow I got up from bed and headed towards them. As I approached the entrance, slowly, I heard Tifa ask if they were going to wait for me, and Cloud just nodded. I then entered the room.

"Cynthia… are you alright?" Cloud asked me.

"…No." I went where Red was and sat beside him. He didn't say anything.

"Everyone, listen to me." Cloud began. "I'm Cloud, ex-SOLDIER, born in Nibeilheim. I came to settle up the score with Sephiroth… "

"Yeah, I heard that before…" Cid interrupted, Cloud just shook his head and continued.

"I came here by my own free will… Or so I though. However… to tell the truth, I'm afraid of myself. There's a part of me that I don't understand. That part was the one who gave the Black Materia to Sephiroth." He lunge a look at me "If you hadn't stopped me Aeris might have been… There's something inside me. A person who is not me. That's why I should quit this journey. Before I do something terrible. But I am going. He destroyed my hometown 5 years ago, killed Aeris and is trying to destroy the Planet. I'll never forgive Sephiroth." _Neither am I…_ I though. "I… I must go on. I have a favor to ask of you… Will you all come with me? To save me from doing something terrible."

"But… Cloud" Tifa began, but Cloud went on.

"I don't know how Aeris tried to save the Planet, and now, we'll never know. _But_, we still have a chance, we must get the Black Materia back from Sephiroth, before he uses it…. Let's go.

I stood, and nodded. His speech somehow brought me back, but I was going to continue this journey, because I also wanted to save this World. As we were exiting the place at dawn, I heard Cid asked

"WHERE DID THAT CREEP SEPHIROTH GO?"

I glanced at Cloud unconsciously. He closed his eyes and said to head for the snowing fields up north. And we started heading up north… on our way there, Cloud put his hand on my shoulder.

"Cynthia… thanks, for what you did." Cloud didn't look at me.

"Yeah… I wished… I hadn't let my guard down… Cloud, are you sure you got every detail from five years ago when you fought Sephiroth? I mean, something must've happened… a piece must be missing."

"I… I don't know Cynthia… "we continued walking without speaking.

_But I know someone who does… Tifa… what are you hiding and what are you afraid off? _

…_.._

…_.. _

_ Sorry for my lateness! But believe me when I say… I was terribly busy! Anyways, I did indeed made a mistake about Sephiroth's eyes color… BUT it wasn't __**my**__ fault! It was my TV's! When I played the game, my TV's color were all wrong, thus the reason why Sephiroth's eyes appears with baby blue eyes! XD Ironic… anyways, sorry for that mistake, but I will fix it ^,^ THANK YOU FOR READING AND as always… REVIEW! _


	21. Chapter 21

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 21: Through the Heavy Blizzard

As we were getting close towards a mountain, we were constantly attacked by sea-like monsters. My magic was very weak, and I could barely concentrate during the fights. Seahorse monsters made a direct attack right at me causing heavy damage on me; Cloud intervened and took the monster down with ease. He turned and helped me up, and gave the signal to continue, but Red made a stop.

"Cloud, I think we should take a rest… Cynthia is badly hurt_" I interrupted Red.

"I'm fine. I can keep going; we got no time to rest…" I stated, but it was true that I was hurt, almost my whole body was aching and I wasn't any good during the battles at all, but I couldn't hold them down.

"Then I guess we should split up! Come on Cloud, part of our group barely had any time for recovery, so let's split up! Every great warrior needs to rest you know." Yuffie began backing Red up. Cloud looked like he was going to say something, but Vincent interrupted him.

"I'll catch up with you guys later, I'll advice those who haven't rested at all to accompany me." He said in a cold tone, and gave me a discrete look.

"Let's go Cynthia! You look almost as pale as Vincent!" Yuffie gave me a small punch on my arm and then took my hand so I can follow them. Red followed us as well.

…

As I lay down on bed, Yuffie began to use her restore material on me. It really helped to ease the pain, but I was still thinking about Aeris. It still seemed as if she was alive, and I could almost hear her voice as clear as water in my mind. I was trying to figure out her plan, but nothing logical came to mind. Then in a matter of seconds my thoughts were interrupted by Yuffie, who seemed to be trying to cheer me up.

"Cynthia, how are you feeling now? You sure took a lot of damage!"

"Thanks… and sorry." I said getting up, but then I was pushed by Yuffie.

"Oh no you don't, you concentrate on taking a nap now. I not leaving this spot until you do!"

"I can't… it's my fault, I saw her leave at Gongaga, still I didn't even try to stop her. I'm useless!"

"Yes, you sure are, look Cynthia, what happened happen, ok? Beating yourself down won't bring Aeris back, so put yourself together and move on."

We were both in silence while staring at each other, neither of us blinked. She was right, but still… why did Aeris had to die?

"Cynthia… I'm going to tell you this just once, and then you get yourself to rest. What would Aeris tell you right now?" She left the room.

_Aeris would say to me… what? She certainly wouldn't blame anyone… 'Everything will be alright?' That's what you always tell me… but… sometimes, things don't end alright. Aeris, I miss you._

…

_ I was in the middle of Sleeping Forest, the trees were white, and the place was in deep silence. Suddenly, like 50 steps away from me there was this familiar figure. I was afraid, it was Seohiroth. He didn't turned. I wanted to run away, and I wanted to take him down. But feeling were strong, but I remain motionless. Unable to think, I was looking for Ke Zhan, but it wasn't with me. _

_** "Looking for this?"**_ _I turned to look who was it, and someone wearing Cloud's clothing was staring straight at me. He had such a warm smile and he was holding Ke Zhan. __**"It's a nice sword… but it wan't be enough to take down Sephiroth. Do you know who I am?"**_

_ "You're… Zack?"_

_**"Yup! The one and only… "**__He gave Ke Zhan back to me __**"A lot has been happening… Anyway, I got a message from Aeris."**__ He smiled again._

_ "Huh?"_

_**"Everything will be alright." **_

_ "What?"_

_**"That's what she said… Don't let your guard down now… "**__ Everything began to turn into a blur and slowly disappeared._

_ "Is this a dream?"_

_**"Yup! Don't be turning into a coward now, you're a very brave kid, you know?"**_I opened my eyes.

I did indeed take a short nap, and it did felt good. Vincent was waiting at the exit along with Yuffie, it seemed like she was telling him quite an enthusiastic tail from her hometown and Red was still sleeping. I went to join Vincent and Yuffie and as soon as I stepped outside, Vincent turned.

"Are you ready to leave?"

"Yes. Let's go!" I tried to look enthusiastic, but it was hard to smile. Zack's message was in my mind now, and it was… somehow, it comforted me.

"Finally! Vinney here was killing me with his silent!" Yuffie was unique indeed, she actually called Dracula's son Vinney, it sure made me smile. "At least you look healthy now, I'll go get Red! We need to catch up to Cloud! Let's get a move on! RED GET OVER HERE! Cynthia is finally healthy to keep going!"

We managed to get out of "Evil Sea World" place and now we were embracing a blizzard which it forced me to get on Red's back because I couldn't take the cold, while Vincent protected Yuffie from the cold by sharing his red cape with her, he constantly rubbed her arm to give her warm.

"We need to find shelter! The blizzard is too strong!" I heard Red say to Vincent. He seemed to agreed and began to find a nearby cave were we could rest until the blizzard passed. My whole body was shacking uncontrollably. We ended up inside a *dead end cave* it was slightly warm. We all waited for the blizzard to end, Red sat right beside me to keep me warm, and Yuffie was almost inside Vincent's cape. They sort of looked like a couple. After a while, Yuffie seemed to recover her warm and stood.

" Cynthia! Follow me!" and I did.

"What's up Yuffie?"

"Let's warm each other up in a faster way."

"Huh? How?" I asked confused.

She went towards me, took my hand, and she twisted it causing me to fall. "What's this? You don't even have reflexes! Hadn't you been taking lesson from Tifa? Come on, stand up and fight me!"

"Why_ I don't want to fight you! This is ridiculous!" I began standing up while rubbing my arm, but Yuffie somehow side-kicked me making me drop flat on my butt.

"No, you're ridiculous!" She took a fighting position and gave me the signal to make my move, which I did. I began throwing synchronized jabs in which she dodged them all. I took plenty of hits and I felt adrenaline kick in. I never thought I could fight like the way I did with Yuffie, I was quite mad at her, but at the same time I was having a pretty good time, in fact I even forgot that I was cold. I managed to give her an unexpected hook. The fight stopped there. She just stared at me, with an undefined expression.

"You call that a hook! That suck! Oh boy, give me twenty push-ups!"

"No way!"we both began to laugh loudly for a long while, I was even wiping some sweat that was dripping from my forehead. "Yuffie… "

"What?" she asked trying to regain her mean posture.

"Thank you." As we were letting our heart's beat go down, we noticed that Red and Vincent were leaving the cave.

"Ah, the blizzard's over! Cynthia, get your stuff! Vinney! Wait for us!"

The blizzard was over, I took Ke Zhan with me, but before I exited the cave, I turned to look at it one last time, and I smile.

_You're right Aeris, everything will be alright… I'll do my best not to let myself down ever again._

…

…

_ Thanks for reading, I had to add this side quest, and I think it was pretty good. Anyways, REVIEW if you like, if you don't let me know why ;) Next Chapter Secrets Unfolds. ^,^ _


	22. Chapter 22

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY OR ITS CHARACTERS

Chapter 22: Secrets Unfolds

We managed to reach a town called Icicle. I was freezing my butt off in this place, therefore I remained on Red's back until we reached the town's inn. There were kids around playing on the snow, and I began to look for a place where they sell coats. I got off Red and enter the inn. It was warm, and desperately wanted something to eat. Vincent headed at front desk and asked if Cloud and the others were here. The lady told us the room number and we went to rejoin them.

I was under the blankets, trying to get warm while Cloud explained our next move; we were to go through another mountain, but this one was different… the temperature was below zero, and the monster were probably stronger, not mention there was a house in the village who's former owner was Professor Gast, Cloud told us to go to that house and watch the videos, it clarifies Aeris origin. I got out of the blankets and gesture Red and Yuffie to follow me. I wanted to know what was it about.

"Cynthia." Cloud called out of me "We're leaving tomorrow morning, so get enough rest."

"Ok, I will." I went to look for the house with Yuffie and Red. As soon as I stepped out of the inn, I felt like freezing all over again in a matter of seconds.

"Bluuuurrr! Why is it-t-t-t s-s-s-sooooo c-c-c-cooold!" I was gald I was wearing gloves, but they weren't enough at all. This place was crazy. Yuffie immediately gave me a rough pushed.

"This cold is nothing! Come on, we take this… let's find that house fast!"

…

The place looked homey-like though it was some sort of technical laboratory. I turn on the computer, and began to watch the videos. They were about Aeris mother, she talked about a "calamity on the sky", then I realized she was talking about Jenova. She narrated how the Cetra died… or more likely, how they were killed. It was so sad. The next video was about something called WEAPON, it was something that was supposes to defeat Jenova, but that it never got to be use. She said that it was some kind of weapon that the planet itself produced, and that it was now sleeping, keeping a close watch on Jenova. This monster… it scared me a lot. The last two video were personal. One was a happy video, and the other made me hate professor Hojo even more (and I already hate the guy). He took Aeris' family away.

After we watch the videos, we began to scan the place, we even went down stairs. I was hoping to find answers, but there was nothing here. I sat on a bed, and began thinking like always.

"Sephiroth is no Cetra. He isn't Jenova's son either, still he has Jenova's cells… do I got it right?"

"I guess, but that information doesn't really help much." Yuffie sat on the bed too "He still going to destroy the planet." I nodded.

"So, other that he has Jenova's cells in him, he's still human… right?" I asked more to Red than to Yufffie.

"It's safe to say yes. What are you thinking?" Red sat on the bed as well.

"That, all human have flaws. Then so must he… meaning, we can beat him. The guy is strong like crazy, but he still gets tired, he doesn't know it all he just smart. We take him down, we save the world. Right?"

"Hell Yeah! Now I like that way of thinking… so was the plan?" Yuffie stood up on the bed.

"Um… I hadn't got that far ahead. I still hadn't figure out his weakness, but I'm sure we can defeat him. I mean, if we work together, we can do it." She dropped back down making the bed shake.

"Well, I guess we'll need a plan just in case. Let's get back to the inn, I want to sleep, going to need my full strength for tomorrow. Not that I need it, I can take on any monster who steps in my way." I heard Red let out a chuckle, and we headed back.

….

I was completely covered under the blankets, I was trying to get warm, the heater in the room wasn't enough and Yuffie and Red were sound asleep. I was now going backwards in time. When Cloud was telling us about his past, when Sephiroth was on the ship on our way to Costa del Sol, when he was retailing the story at Gold Saucer's hotel. Then, it stroke me… _Tifa._

When we were at Cosmo Canyon, Tifa asked Cloud if he was really Cloud. She was afraid of something, and every time Cloud talks about what happened in Nibelheim 5 years ago, Tifa is always waiting for more in the story. I started walking back and forth inside the room now. Thinking how to approach Tifa and how to ask her. It had to be now. I left the room, and went to the one where Tifa was.

I then went back, and then return back towards the room. I did this like at least 50 times. I ended up near the stairs, resting my whole body against the wall.

"What are you doing?" Vincent asked from behind me making me jump and turn at a 180 degree pace.

"Oh Vincent! You scared me!" I was now trying to normalize my breathing.

"Again, what are you doing?" he asked me coldly.

"Oh, I was… um nothing." He gave me a look that told me that he didn't believe me "Oh okay, sheesh! I was hoping to talk to Tifa about something… but well, it's between her and me and so I'm waiting for her to come out of her room." He then went passed me.

He knocked on the door, Cloud answered and Vincent asked to tell Tifa to meet me in 10 minutes down stairs. The door closed and Vincent went back towards me "Was that so hard?"

"Um, no… it was very simple actually." I said feeling ashamed.

"I guess for a complicated person… that must've been too simple." He gave me a smile and left into his room with Cid and Cait Sith. I couldn't tell if that was a compliment or an insult, but he did me a favor, and I decided that it was a little bit of both… hopefully.

…

Tifa indeed went down stair in ten minutes, she spotted me. Even though I didn't gave her any sign.

"What's wrong Cynthia?"

"Um… nothing, I mean, something… I mean, want to teach me that water kick technique?" I didn't know how to ask her, but she giggled.

"Sure, hmm… let's see, let's go outside, this place is to cramp."

_Noooo not into the cold!_ "Ok…"

After a few tries, I managed to learn how to water kick, I suddenly felt like one of Jackie Chan's or Jet Li's old movies. I was still constantly fighting against the cold.

"I'll teach you more stuff in a warmer place… let's get inside before we get cold."

"Nn-n-n-no –c-c-complain! Th-th-the-re!" I said while she was giggling.

As we were both heading upstairs, I had build up enough courage to ask her.

"Tifa?"

She stopped to look at me, she was forcing a smile "Yes?"

"Actually, I wanted to ask you something… private."

"What is it?"

"Do you remember when we were sitting around the fireplace at Cosmo Canyon?"

" Yes?" _Was she expecting the question, she has such a serious face._

"What did you mean when you asked Cloud… if he was really Cloud?"

"You're right, that is something private."

"I know, but I still want to know… "

"Cynthia… get some rest, we're leaving tomorrow." She started to go up stairs, in a faster pace.

"You do know something!"

"That's enough! It's… not important. Just put it out of your mind!"

"No, I know whatever you're hiding it is important! Because you're very scared of it, and you need to tell that to the others!" Suddenly she turned and gave me a slap on the face.

I immediately froze, unable to process what just happened, my cheek started to burn from the ache. "I'm sorry." She was covering her mouth. "Cynthia… " she turned to look behind… "Come with me." She took my arm and dragged me out of the inn and we ended up in Professor's Gast home.

"Cynthia, I sorry I slapped you… I didn't mean to. I'm going to tell you this once, and you will keep it to yourself."

"Ok… "

"Five years ago… Cloud was never in Nibelheim, or at least… I never saw him. What bothers me, is that he knows things he shouldn't… "

"I don't get it."

"Me neither… and I don't want to find out… I think. I don't want Cloud to disappeared." She had her hand on her heart.

"Tifa… you shouldn't keep this to yourself. This sounds… really scary."

"Please… keep it between us, please." I sighed, but I nodded. _Was I making another mistake._

"Tifa, I'll keep it to myself, but you should say something… after all, the truth always in the end comes out into the light."

We went back into the inn again, and dropped on the bed. There was something huge going on, and still I didn't get it. I thought everything was going to get clearer after my conversation with Tifa, but it just got even more confusing. _Cloud… what happened? _

….

….

_Hmm… Well, you know what's next… more or less. Next Chapter, A Failed Experiment. _


	23. Chapter 23

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 23: The Planet's Wound

"Cynthia, what the heck happened to your cheek? Why won't you tell me!" Yuffie didn't want to let go of the topic.

"Yuffie, for the one-thousand time, NOTHING!" Tifa's slap left a red spot on my cheek "Come on, everyone's waiting outside, and I want to get that cliff over with… I hate the cold."

"You know, I don't believe you, that looks like someone gave you a huge slap there, right Red?" Yuffie continued while getting her stuff.

"I'm afraid Yuffie's right… who slapped you and why?" Red asked pressing me even more.

"Oh God! No one slapped me, sheesh! Drop the subject already!" I left the room in a hurry.

When I reached down stairs Tifa glance at me, and there was sudden shock. "Cynthia, what happened there?" I gave her a look telling her 'You did not just asked me that'. "Oh… I'm sorry… "

"Whatever, let's go… " Suddenly Vincent and Cid looked like they were going to ask me what happened to my cheek, but "Don't you guys dare ask me!" I went passed them exiting the inn. Boy, it was 10 times colder than last night.

…

As we gotten through the mountains and forest trying to reach the cliff up ahead, I constantly continued to curse the cold. The place was filled with monsters, but that was no trouble anymore. I felt like going crazy because of the cold and I could barely think. Red told me to get on his back, so I can get a little warm, but that didn't help anymore. My whole body was shaking, and I couldn't believe the others were taking it. I felt like a wimp to be honest. As time passed, the road seemed heavier; I got off of Red and went towards Cloud.

"C-c-clo-ud! W-w-w-whe-re's th-th-that m-m-m-map!" I began to ask Cloud trying to control my tone of voice. He took out the map.

"We're almost there… we have to reach the checkmark. Cynthia, are you ok?"

"I'm-m-m Fre_zzzing!" I suddenly began to breathe faster and faster.

"Cynthia, get on my back." Red told me and I did.

We saw some kind of cabin, and we burst in. We met this middle-age guy, who was in charge of advising those who challenged the cliff. He was kind enough to give us shelter in his cabin while we recover; he also gave me a drink that was supposed to warm me up. I also ate some soup he called chicken ramen, I ate three bowls of that. He then began to tell us his story, he told us about his adventure with his friend, but that it ended tragically. His friend cut his rope to save him. He ended the story by telling us that we should keep track on our route and to constantly warm up.

After a good rest, we headed back on the road, the nice guy gave me a brown long sleeve shirt which smelled kind of funny, but it kept me a little warm. Vincent, Barret and me headed up first to secure the route ahead. They took me so I could leave the cold as soon as possible. As we climb the cliff, the temperature began to descend, I tried to keep calm and control, and did the exercise to keep my body warm. We enter inside caves every now and then, and the caves were quite warm. There were quite strong and big monster in these places, and I managed to pull out my special attack every now and then. At the third cave that we entered there was a CLONE right ahead, as soon as we approached it, it disappeared. Soon, a nasty two-headed dragon appeared. It was quite strong, and my magic didn't 'caused much effect on it. The dragon used a lot of elementals attacks against us, suddenly it through a flamethrower right at me, and Vincent morphed into some kind of beast while protecting me from the flames. I was in a lot of shock, especially when he finished off the dragon by himself. Soon, he morphed back into his normal self.

"Oh my God! Vincent… that was super amazing!" I was fascinated, he suddenly started chuckle in disbelieve.

"Likewise, let's continue."

As we exited the cave I was surprised when I didn't feel the cold hit me.

"It's warm here… " I said taking off the long sleeve shirt. "How come it's warm here?"

"Hmm… come on." Cloud said. And we climb up reaching the end of the cliff, we then saw the planet's scar. It looked like the top of a volcano, only that instead of emitting smoke, it was surrounded by some kind of whirl wind. We began to go towards it.

"This is where the calamity felt, this is the planets wound, and it's still being healed." Vincent told me.

"The calamity is Jenova, right?" I asked to be certain.

"Correct, Sephiroth must be close… don't let your guard down."

"I won't." I suddenly remembered what Tifa told me, and I looked at Cloud. _He knows things that he shouldn't. How can that be? Sephiroth told him that he was just a puppet… Cloud, who are you? _"Vincent… "

"What is it?"

"Hmm… nothing, never mind, it's… it's not important." Vincent glanced at me, but didn't question me. "Hojo, did he create Sephiroth?"

"No… that mad-scientist, all he did was ruined lives because of his obsession. I'll tell you the rest in time… now focus on what's ahead, we can't afford any distraction." The wind was getting a lot stronger, and suddenly, I heard Tifa's voice calling after us.

Cloud turned and waited for Tifa. "Cloud, I'm going with you. Sephiroth took away a lot from me too, I have to even the score as well." _That's just an excuse… _I though. She just wanted answers too. We needed to get through the whirlwind before reaching Sephiroth, we needed to stop him, we needed to get the Black Materia back and put an end to all this.

I looked up into the sky, and a saw a shooting star, I made a silent wish. I wished, for the safe return of all of us. It was a superstition, but it comforted me at least a little. This place was going to be filled with unwanted surprises; I needed to be ready for it.

….

….

_Thank you for reading, next chapter A Failed Experiment. Like always, leave your review! ^,^ _


	24. Chapter 24

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 24: A Failed Experiment

Time wasn't waiting for us, we needed to hurry and get the Black Materia back. This was it; Sephiroth's threat was going to end here. It had to end here, but still there were so many questions unanswered and a lot of things didn't make any sense at all. Everything had gotten so confusing, especially after my talk with Tifa. I had high hopes that after that conversation ended, everything would have made a lot more sense, but it just gave me more questions without answers.

The road wasn't very wide and at the bottom seemed to be nothing but an abysm. There was a strong wind, and plenty of weird monsters that kept getting in our way. We were getting close, I could somehow feel it. Sephiroth was here, all the black capes CLONEs were also here and they kept mumbling about the reunion. It rose my hair up, and at one point when I saw one of them fall and began to vanish like all the others. Suddenly one of the wing-monsters tackled me, forcing me to jump to the next lower road. I saw Cloud's intention and I immediately shouted at him not to worry, if they all jumped to help me, they would most definitively lose time.

"Keep going! I'll catch up!" I tried to stand tall; I smiled and gave everyone there thumbs up. "I'll handle these" I took _Ke Zhang_ out.

As I try to get back on track, lots of monsters kept getting in my way. I did every combat move I knew on them. I couldn't afford to lose here, I wasn't as strong as the others, but I wasn't as useless and weak as before. I slashed, I punched, I kicked and I jump my way back on the road. As I recognized the pattern I went running forward after the others. Suddenly some kind of black dragon appeared and blocked my way.

_Oh shit!_ I though while taking out my _Ke Zhang _again. The monster lunged at me and I unconsciously moved left and tried to cut off his right leg. I only managed to scratch him, making it angrier, as it was going to what it looked like flame thrown me. A big shuriken stroke him from behind, I quickly recognized Yuffie's weapon. We both fought off the dragon, me ending it with my light-beam piercing the dragon's heart, and soon it began to vanish.

"I thought you were with Cloud and the others, what happened?"

"Well, I needed to stay behind to avoid slowing them down, anyways, let's go, we need to help them. Where are the others?"

"They're close by, want to wait for them?"

"No, let's wait for them at the center of this wound."

…

The wind was getting stronger, and there were fewer monsters too. I was getting tense now, and Yuffie was sort of losing her guts too. I saw Cloud's spiky blonde hair, he was with Vincent, Barret and Tifa, and there was Sephiroth as well. I could almost hear my hearts beats as I took out _Ke Zhang_. Suddenly, the two CLONEs that were with him, got slathered. Yuffie and I suddenly got down and behind the rocks.

"Why did he do that? Doesn't he need those CLONEs?" I whispered to Yuffie

"I don't know! That guy it's a nuts case! What should we do… I_ we can't handle him, I'm afraid that… he's too strong."

"I know, but Cloud's there, we… should be fine, right?"

Yuffie sighted "God, okay, let's join in with Cloud… Cynthia, be on your guard."

"You too, that creep isn't taking anyone else." We went in and joined in with Cloud… and the madness started.

Cloud glanced our way, and he seemed relief, but then he's face changed and, there was a nothing but silence in the wind.

"Sephiroth! This is the end!" Cloud shouted at Sephiroth to get his attention.

"You're right, this _is_ the end of this body's usefulness." Sephiroth said while he suddenly began to laugh like a mad scientist, soon after he vanished like thin air.

"He disappeared!" Cloud said as if to confirm what he was seeing was right.

"He might still be near-by." Tifa said "Search for him, be on your guard!"

We began to look with our eyes, Yuffie was pressing her back against mine, I could feel her heart beat as well. I was getting ready to summon my light beam as soon as I spotted Sephiroth. There was no noise at all, I couldn't even hear the wind's blow anymore. Suddenly…

_**Our purpose is to deliver the Black Materia to our Master… **_

"Our?"Cloud asked to himself, so I wasn't going crazy, he could hear that voice as well, but _was that Sephiroth?_

"This isn't good… " Yuffie said.

_**Those who carry Jenova's cells…**_

"Master?" _Cloud, what are you mumbling about?_

_**Of course… Sephiroth… heheheh…**_

"What's going on?" I asked finally.

"You're soon see… " Sephiroth appeared from behind us, and one of Jenova's parts appeared. We had to fight the thing that Sephiroth threw at us, and it had to be fast. I went and pierced my light beam into what I thought was the lower left hip of that thing. Yuffie kept throwing her Shuriken to slow her down, but Cloud gave the deathblow to it.

After we had beaten one of Jenova's part…

"Jenove's cells… hmm so that's what this is all about. The Jenova Renunion… " Cloud began to explain.

"Not Sephiroth's! You mean all this time it wasn't Sephiroth we've been after?" Tifa asked surprised.

"I'll explain later, right now, the only thing I'm thinking about is beating Sephiroth."

"But Sephiroth is… " Tifa began

"He's here, the real Sephiroth is just beyond here, and it's both incredibly wicked and cruel… But it's releasing a powerful strong will from deep within this planet's wound. The Black Materia is back in our hand, now all we have to do… is defeat Sephiroth."

"But wait, the Sephiroth we've been seeing is but an illusion?" I asked suddenly getting lost, Cloud took the Black Materia from the ground, and Red, Cid and Cait Sith came from behind us.

"I'll explain later, Cynthia, Red and Tifa, come with me… but first, Barret, take this." Cloud was giving the Black Materia to Barret.

"Damn man! …Pressure's on now." Barret said while taking it.

"Don't give it to _anyone_. I'm counting on you." Barret nodded and we went deeper into the Planet's wound.

…

As we passed a few gusty winds that occasionally blocked our path, a sudden light stroke us and we couldn't see where we were going. Soon after, we were in a familiar village… Tifa took the words out of my mouth.

"This is Nibelheim!"

"An illusion?" Red asked.

"Probably, created by Sephiroth." Cloud answered.

I heard footsteps coming from behind, I turned to look and I saw Sephiroth, he had a serene face, and he seemed to be calm too, I took some steps back getting _Ke Zhang_ on the double "Cloud! It's him!"

I felt Cloud's hand on my shoulder "It's just an illusion… look."

"Huh?" I noticed some blue uniforms guards, that I failed to see the first time. "Where… where are we?"

"Nibelheim, five years ago… " Cloud looked away from me.

We were about to relive Nibelheim incident, I could feel it, but… something was wrong… the person who came after Sephiroth wasn't Cloud… I recognized Zack's face. Tifa was getting uneasy… I was getting afraid and Tifa's words resonated inside my head.

_Five years ago… Cloud was never in Nibelheim, or at least… I never saw him. What bothers me, is that he knows things he shouldn't… _

"Cloud, I don't see you… "Said Red.

"He's trying to confuse us, but none of this will affect me. I have my memories imprinted in my head… I know what happened exactly five years ago." He gave us a reassuring smile.

Suddenly the scenario changed, the village was being consumed by the flames, and the heat was hitting my face like sudden slaps. "This is… horrible." I expressed. I could hear my heart pounding hard against my chest, there were too many deaths, too much blood, and it made me dizzy.

"The person who's going to come out of the mansion is probably not going to be me." Cloud said calling our attention, and sooner than later, Zack came out of the mansion, his face expressed horror…

"Cloud, don't listen to Sephiroth." Tifa began.

"Don't worry Tifa, I'm not being affected by his lies… " Cloud breath in " Sephiroth, show yourself!" and like an act of magic, he appeared in front of us.

"So, you finally understand." Sephiroth's was smiling evilly.

"You're wasting your time; your lies won't affect me."

"Oh is that so, you don't seem to understand at all… " he suddenly appeared within seconds from behind us. "Is that what this is? What's in your head… that's the lie."

"Cloud don't listen to him! Don't think about it!" she collapsed to the ground.

"Yes, Cloud… think! _Think back_, go back to and search." Sephiroth began to laugh again.

"He disappeared!" I said unable to understand anything. "Cloud, where is_ _ Tifa… " I went and walked towards her. "Tifa?" she was just staring at the ground, holding her tears.

"Tifa, what's the matter?" Cloud approached her, "Tifa, he's just showing us a lie, don't let that affect you."

"Yes… you're… you're… right." Tifa lift her head and stared at Cloud's eyes.

_This isn't good… _I was trying not to think about it, but…

"Oh poor Tifa, why don't you tell him?" Sephiroth appeared once again.

"No! I_ I need time!" Tifa began to cry, she was shaking as well.

Sephiroth wasn't showing us an illusion, and that scared me even more… Cloud seemed to be confused by Tifa's reaction, the truth Sephiroth show scared her a lot more than I could ever imagine.

"Cloud, do you remember the picture we took? My, where is that picture… " Sephiroth walked slowly towards a corps on the ground, bend down and pick something. I was holding Tifa's both shoulders. "Here, it came out real good… don't you want to see it?" he offered the picture for us to see.

"Don't! Cloud, don't look at the picture!"

"Don't worry… it's probably not me in it." And just like that he went and took a look at it… "Just like I expected, it's not me." Sephiroth began to laugh again, but this time it lasted for a while. "Oh, poor Tifa, never met the_ real_ Cloud… Cloud, your memories are the lies, you are nothing but a puppet created by Hojo, piece by piece."

Sephiroth explanation was sinking my heart, _it can't be true!_

"You're nothing but a clone, not even given a number… " Sephiroth began to laugh again. "Oh my, Hojo would die" he continued laughing. "That is the entire true."

"Cloud, shut your eyes, your ears, don't let Sephiroth's word get to you!" Tifa stood up, she was getting desperate now. I stood up as well, unable to say anything at all. This whole story about Cloud being a CLONE… it scared me to death.

"Don't worry Tifa" Cloud smile again "I was ignoring him… I know the true, it's inside my memories, it's true that sometimes I don't really get myself and I forget things, but… you said 'long time no see Cloud' the memories of us will always support me."

I began to glance back and forward, to Tifa and to Cloud. I didn't understand what was going on anymore, but Cloud and Sephiroth were both sure of their own truth. Tifa was collapsing, maybe because she knew Sephiroth was right, but how did all this happened, _how can someone… anyone forget his identity? _Suddenly, Cloud began to re-tail his story… part by part… until…

"I was in SOLDIER First Class… When… when did I join SOLDIER? Why can't I remember?" Cloud's hands were now pressing hard on either side of his forehead. Tifa, Red and I ran towards him, he collapse and was now resting on Tifa's arms.

"Cloud? Are you alright?" Tifa asked with a shaken voice.

"That's right… it doesn't matter that I don't remember when I joined SOLDIER because… " _Cloud… what's going on? This can't be happening…_

…

We were now at a place so bright and full of energy… and surrounded by Scarlet, Hojo and Rufus. I didn't even realize that the scenery changed at all, and the place was shaking as well. Cloud stood up, and began to say that it was time to put all of this to an end. I wanted to cry as well, Tifa was trying to reach out for Cloud. Then Barret came through one of the entrances or… exits. He was holding the Black Materia in his hand.

"Yo, Cloud, is everything okay, I heard ye' were in trouble!" Barret burst in. Everything was happening too fast, and we all stood there doing nothing.

"Yeah, everything's alright now. Do you have the Black Materia?"

"CLOUD!" Tifa yelled, but her voice seemed to be mute to Cloud's ears.

I began to move forward, but suddenly my legs felt numb "What is this?" I was struggling to move my legs, but I stood there unable to move them. I was suddenly afraid.

"Yup! Here it is!"

"Good work, hand it to me." And Barret did.

I turned to look at my surrounding, Tifa was trying for her voice to reach Cloud, but it was no good, Red was motionless, probably not knowing what to do. Hojo had a sly smile on that ugly face of his, Scarlet wasn't following what was going on, and Rufus had his serious face on. Cloud turned to face Hojo now, he was now asking… begging him to be given a number, the doctor's smile and arrogance quickly disappeared.

"Get out of here! You're nothing but a failure!" Cloud was destroyed by Hojo's words.

_A failed experiment… that monster, why is this happening, why can't I move, what's going on, what can be done, that Black Materia, it can't be in Sephiroth's hand or Jenova's or anyone like them… Cynthia, think! He's getting away… _"Rufus! Shoot at my leg! Please! Hurry, now!" He looked more than surprise at my request, but he took out his gun and pulled the trigger. I felt to the ground, the pain was ten times worst than imagine, but it work. I could move again, I got up, and I tried to ignore the pain, there were more important things to be done. I grabbed Cloud's arm, and rested my forehead on his. "Please! Don't_"

Cloud, shook off of me and his free hand was resting on my head. "Cynthia, thank you for everything, you're a very good girl, a good friend, a funny one too, like the little sister I never had." He was smiling, and his eyes were watered. "Everyone, thank you, and sorry… Sorry…Sorry… especially you Tifa, I'm sorry, maybe one day, you'll meet the real Cloud." And just like that… he flew up and away… I collapsed to the ground. I forgot about the pain in my leg. I just stared up, trying… begging for answers to drop off. I heard Hojo mumble about his experiments, plans and theories. I hated him… I hated him and Sephiroth and this whole mess. I could somehow feel that Hojo was the one responsible for this.

The ground began to shake uncontrollably; Rufus suggested continuing the conversation on the airship. I was being carried by Barret.

"Cynthia! Snap out of it, we need to leaves or we'll be crushed!" he forced me to move forward, but I ended up on Red's back.

…

We were boarding the airship, all of us. We were on the bad guy's airship, and I was trying to move around, but the pain in my leg force me to sit down. Red was besides me, and then as we were taking off, four huge creatures emerged from the Planet's wounds, they were powerful, one of them shot a light blue beam at us that almost took the ship down. Red got on me, trying to protect me, sooner than later, Tifa collapse completely on the floor, the beam's anergy got her, and she was unconscious. Things were going to change… a lot of things had already changed. For starters, we lost Cloud now. I had no idea what could be done, I felt lost, the feeling was worse than when Aeris' died. _Were we losing this fight? _

…

Cloud was missing, Tifa was unconscious, Aeris was death… things couldn't get worse. Oh yes, I forgot… Meteor was on his way to destroy the very existence of this planet, and there was no plan to stop it. Yuffie said she was going back to Wutai, I decided to go with her, the others went back to their home town, probably to spend their last days with their families. So, the ship dropped Yuffie and me on Wutai territory and headed our way.

"This… can't be the end…" I said after a few minutes of silence.

"I don't know… "

"What can we do?"

"Probably nothing… "

I stopped walking "Bull shit!"

Yuffie turned to look at me, that was usually her line.

"There's got to be something! I can't believe this; we're going to let our homes to be destroyed! I can't allow that, I just can't!"

"Well, what the heck are we going to do! How can we stop something that has the capability to destroy a whole planet!"

"I don't know! But, there's got to be something! Anything! We can't allow this, we can't!"

"Cynthia… " we went silence for a long moment… "Let's joined up with Cid, the day after tomorrow… maybe he'll think of something… for now, let's just rest up… it's been worse than a long day."

I was on the edge to cry, to scream like a maniac, but all I did was nod. This can't be the end…_ it won't be the end, everything will get… better, everything will end alright… right Aeris?_

…

_Like always, thank you for reading, hoped you liked this chapter. Next Chapter, "Where's Cloud?" Please if you like it REVIEW if you didn't REVIEW AND TELL ME WHY! Again thank you for taking your time and read, we're almost to the end now ^,^ _


	25. Chapter 25

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 25: Finding Cloud

After training with Yuffie in Wutai's mountains for a few days before going to Rocket Town, we found out about Tifa's and Barret's sentence. We hurried with a plan to rescue them, fortunately Caith Sith contacted us, and we only needed to group up with Red at Cosmo Canyon (Vincent had decided to stay with Cid). Needless to say, that Meteor was now viewable from the orange sky, which cause panic and fear to every person in every town, and they all blame the AVALANCHE for it, since that's what Shinra stated. All respect I may've had on Rufus went immediately down the toilet, hence the reason why we're walking around Juno in disguised. Shera made a really good reporter out of me, getting my whole hair into a bun along with business cloths and a big sunglass.

One more time, we were planning something big and this time, failure wasn't an option, but first thing first, we needed to rescue Barret and Tifa from this place and get ourselves out. As soon as Barret and Tifa entered the room, Scarlet stood up and ordered the camera to start filming in their direction.

"What the hell is this? Who are these people!" Barret demanded.

"Why, we're recording your sentence, after all the public need to know that the ones who caused this catastrophe upon us are being punished, kyahahahaha!" Scarlet said with that cocky voice of her.

"Why you_" Barret was being restrained. I began to get anxious as well.

"We're start with the girl." Scarlet ordered.

"No, if ya' all executing someone, I'll be first!" Barret shouted, but only caused Scarlet to laugh.

"Kyahahaha! Camera this way, people just love goody good-byes… the people won't admit it, but they love this kind of stuff, kyahahaha!" She was saying while entering the gas chamber after Tifa and the soldiers.

"When do we interfere?" I whispered to Cait Sith who was beside me with a disguise.

"Soon… we have to wait for the right moment?"

Scarlet exited the gas chamber and the alarm went on suddenly. Weapon was approaching Juno and everyone but the soldiers and Scarlet, fled the area. Cait Sith used that chance to knock Scarlet down with sleeping gas while I put on my gloves and sprint towards one of the guards and jabbed, crossed and hooked the guard down. Cait Sith took care of the other guard while I was freeing Barret from his restrains.

"Cynthia! Didn't recognized ya' and you! I thought you were a spy!" Barret shouted while testing his gun.

"Let's just say I'm against public execution… let's get Tifa out of here!"

"Right" Barret rushed towards the gas chamber's door, but "It won't budge! We need a key!"

"Then let's hurry and look for one, Cait Sith, where to?"

"Follow me everyone" Cait Sith hopped his way out and led the way.

"Tifa! You hold your breath as long as possible, we're getting you out of there!" Barret said.

"Hurry Barret! I can't hold forever!" Tifa said behind the door.

As we stepped outside the doors, that despicable Scarlet locked the doors.

"Now you can't save the girl, fools! Kyahahahaha!"

"That witch! Cait Sith! What now?" I said.

"Oh boy, time for plan B… let's get to the airship, _fast_" Cait Sith said

"What! I ain't leaving Tifa!" Barret yelled at Cait Sith

"We're not leaving her, just, trust me!"

…

The airship was now taking off, and I suddenly saw a familiar figure moving outside on top of Juno's cannon, minutes right after Weapon was taken down by the cannon.

"Cid! It's Tifa, Cait Sith go and tell Cid to fly underneath the Cannon, Tifa's there!" anxiousness was almost taking over.

As soon as the airship went underneath the Cannon, I threw the stair case and not a second later Tifa jumped off and grabbed the stairs. It was almost like a miracle. As Tifa was on the airship's cockpit, I extended my hand to help her in.

"Welcome back, teacher!" I said with a smile.

"Thanks… " she forced a smile "What's this?"

"It's an airship! It's Cid's and we can ride on it, obviously! He said he was gonna teach me how to drive it too, cool right?" I said.

"You sure gave me a scare! Let's get down, everyone is waiting!" Barret said getting inside the airship.

"Everyone?" Tifa followed quickly after Barret, and a certain uneasiness overwhelm me, the time has come to plan our next move, and even though I was afraid of what might happen and what might not happen, I was willing to go on with it, I was going to stand beside my friends to the very end, and we were going, somehow, with some miracle, stop meteor from destroying the planet.

…

"What, does Cloud has to be here in order for us to be able to do anything? When did you become such a wimp Tifa? We started out fine without him, how come we need him so much now?" Barret was saying to Tifa as I entered the bridge.

"I know, I'm sorry… but… I need to find him." Tifa wasn't looking at Barret at all.

"Hey kid, don't you worry… we might not find him in the end, but we also got a chance that we might find him too, he isn't death. This baby will take us anywhere. I like Cloud, but I never really understand the kid, he was weird, plain weird, when I thought he was smart, he ends up doing something stupid… "

"He was a 4th dimensional person… I think." I said getting everyone to look. "You know what a 4th dimensional person is?"

"What hell is that!" Barret shouted.

I tried not to laugh at all, I wanted to look as serious as possible. "He's someone like Vincent… hmm, you know their usually quiet and serious and hard to make them laugh and stuff like that, a 4th dimensional person is someone who is weird in his own world, it's a slant we use… well, back home we call those people 4th dimensional." Everyone just stared at me… until I swear I heard Vincent chuckle.

"So, you're saying I'm weird then?" Vincent said.

"Yup, in your own word!" I was now holding my laugh with everything in me… until suddenly everyone started laughing as well.

"Well, then, Cid… where can we start? I need to find Cloud and I'm sorry if I'll make anything hard for you guys."

"No problem, but, where do you think we should start? I hadn't the slightest idea where to start looking for Cloud."

"How about around the planet's wound?" I said.

"Can't, that place is impenetrable for the time being!" Barret responded.

"When we left… " Red started "There was a lot of lifestream overflowing from the place… maybe Cloud was washed up by it… I remember grandfather used to tell me a place where everything was washed by the lifestream ended somewhere."

"Where?" I asked.

"I can't remember… "

"Then we should go to Cosmo Canyon and ask Bugenhagen. Cid, can we?"

"Of course we can, we should be there in a couple of minutes… you should eat something in the mean time."

…

Right after we left Cosmo Canyon, Cid headed the airship towards the South. There was suppose to be some islands there, and there might be a chance that Cloud ended up washed up there. For some reason, the possibility of Cloud being dead was zero. I was hanging alone on the cockpit, the hard wind hitting my face. I heard footsteps coming.

"You changed… so much. I remember how a crybaby you were when we first met, now look at you." Tifa said getting by my side.

I turned to look at her. "Yeah… hard to believe, huh?"

"You have no idea."

As I stared at Meteor, I wondered how much time left we had. "Cloud, he isn't a puppet… You don't believe that, right?"

"… I… really don't know. I need answers… "

"Well, I think Sephiroth twisted the truth… I don't believe that psycho… They say that the true always comes into the light… so those answers you're looking for… you're will find them."

"I hope so…"

"Tifa! Cynthia! Get your asses over to the bridge!" we heard Cid's voice from the intercom.

"Yes sir!" I gave small smile to Tifa and we went together towards the bridge.

…

There was a nice little village in one of the islands, so we started looking here. I went to one of the shops to stock up, and as soon as I entered the shop a mad-lady was running around all over the shop. Apparently she was buying everything she could lay her eyes on. When I went to pay at the counter, still staring at the lady, the cashier told me this was her third shop she visited, she was only worried about spending her money on everything she could buy.

"All that because she's sure the world's ending!"

" 'Fraid so, but I'm not complaining to be honest."

When I went to look for Tifa and Cid, they were talking to some old villagers… when I approached close enough.

"It's Cloud! It's got to be him! He's at the clinic, everyone let's hurry."

So we did, unfortunately… when the nurse took Cloud in a wheel chair…

"Cloud! What's wrong? Oh, no, please tell me that you can hear me? I'm here Cloud… please answer me… tell me that you can hear me… see me… "

Cloud, wasn't acting like Cloud. He seemed disconnected, he's words weren't working; he couldn't control his head to look up properly. It was, like he wasn't even there, only physically.

"Please, come with me… Let's leave them alone… I'll need to explain his condition." The doctor went outside the clinic, and we followed. He began to explain, that he was over-exposed to a large amount of Mako energy. It was all injected into his brain all at once.

"To be honest, I'm surprise that he's even alive." The doctor commented.

"Will he get better? Is there any treatment, therapy?" I asked while my heart wanted to burst out of my chest and my face and throat were burning.

"I don't know, all we can do is pray… "

Tifa exited to clinic, she looked like she was going to say something, and she did. She was going to stay at Cloud's side until he gets better. And so, that was that.

… … …

_I have major writer's block; I don't know what else to write. Nothing wants to come out of my head. Well, this all I could manage, please… REVIEW! And thanks so much for reading ^,^ _


	26. Chapter 26

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 26: Answers

Cid has "willingly" accepted to be the new leader. We needed to collect something called "Huge Materia" before Shinra laid their hands on it. I didn't exactly know what they were, but it was suppose to be a powerful materia that was formed inside the reactors, hence the reason why we needed to go to Fort Condor and Corel. Thanks to Cait Sith we knew where and when to strike. After obtaining the Huge Materia from Corel, Cid told me that I should check on Tifa and Cloud.

Cid said that they were going to come back as soon as they were done in Fort Condor, so I was to stay here 'till then. As soon as I entered the clinic Tifa was trying not to fall asleep, she was pale and she looked tired.

"Tifa? Have you rested?" I asked her, taking a sit.

"How can I?" she lifted her head to look at me.

"Cynthia, what on earth happened to you! You're all covered in scratched, your hands, their covered in bandages! What the heck were you doing?" Tifa even stood up to inspect me.

"Well, to make the long story short, I jump from one train to another just to stop it from crashing into Corel. Do I really look that bad? I mean… I had worse; only that Yuffie has been feeling sick from flying on the airship, so no healing for me." As soon as I said it, the doctor went to check on me and had the nurse treat me. I suddenly felt like a mummy afterward, but she told me that I could take them off in the morning.

Cloud was being put in bed between the nurse and Tifa. She didn't want to sleep at all, not even rest, she was on Cloud's side attending him as much as she could, she continue to talk to him, but all Cloud did was mumble senseless things. Finally, Cloud seemed to be sleeping, occasionally, he would twitch, but that was all.

The night in this village was beautiful, I could see it the sky from the clinic's open window. I would look from the window to Cloud and Tifa. She really loved Cloud very, but very much.

"You know Tifa…"

"Hmm?" she was still sitting on the chair.

"The first time Cloud and I met… he pushed me off a bridge while a train was passing underneath it."

She gave a small laugh "When was that?" she looked at me.

"The same day I met you… I had an injury on my head and a broken nail."

"Oh, so that what happened. Why did he push you?" she was giggling.

"To save me from being shot by Shinra's soldiers." I started laughing at the memory, it felt like it was only yesterday. "I was struggling and fighting with him at the time, I even told him that I rather die than jump… that's when he pushed me. I was so mad at him, but he knew better and if it wasn't for him I would probably be dead… in many occasions."

"That's Cloud… " she began to comb her hair with her fingers.

"Tifa, I'll take over for you… you should sleep or else we're have two sick people in the clinic. Come on, in bed you go." I grabbed her by her arm and lead her to the nearest bed.

"Cynthia, you need to rest, you had a rough day…" she began to argue.

"Likewise… you're no good if you faint here and now. Just rest, okay?" she was in need of immediate sleep, even though she argued, she was sound asleep in a matter of seconds.

I sat on Tifa's chair and I stared at Cloud. "Come on Cloud, we need you… please, get better and wake up… "

…

Tifa was up and running as soon as the sun came up. I slept for a few hours, and I was helping out in the clinic as much as I could. Cloud was put again on the wheel chair, suddenly, Cloud started saying some words. "Wha…Uh…What number am I…?" it was heartbreaking, he still believe he was nothing but a puppet.

"Cloud, please, listen to me… you don't need a number…" Tifa began.

A few minutes later, Cid, Vincent and Yuffie were at the Clinic checking on us. Not long an earthquake began. Everything in the clinic was falling on the floor.

"Damn, an earthquake! You two stay in here with Cloud, we're checking this out."

Cid stepped out, and suddenly there was a big shadow on Mideel. It was Weapon, it was attacking the town and so Cid and the others were taking care of it, minutes later Weapon left, but another earthquake began. The place was beginning to fall apart, just then we heard Cid's voice telling us to leave the place as fast as possible. Tifa and I took Cloud out with the wheel chair, but just as we were making it out of town we had fallen into the lifestream.

…

I was drifting away, I heard voices. Not words, just voices. It was the planet speaking, I felt like I was in the water, in a big ocean, inside it. I could breath fine, _so was I in water?_ _Where was I?_ I opened my eyes, and there was nothing but darkness. I saw a light deep inside the darkness. I was walking, swimming towards it. As soon as I reached it, I saw myself in the light, like a mirror. My image disappeared, and I saw something inside the light. It was a room, and it looked familiar. It was my brother's room, but it was empty, there was no one there. Then, I touch the light, and I could go right through it. I was aware then, that I could go back home… my home. I didn't_… I can't… I can't go back, not now… I need to help Tifa, Cloud, this planet… I need to protect it. I need to help my friends… so no, I can't go back_. I swam away from it, trying to find Tifa, trying to find Cloud, trying to get out of this darkness. And then…

"Cynthia! Wake up." And I did.

I was expecting to be in the coast of a beach or something like that, but… I wasn't. I didn't know where I was. Tifa was relieved to see me awake.

"Where are we… why… are there so many Clouds… Am I still dreaming?" I asked, extremely confused.

"No… we're in the lifestream… and I think… we're inside Cloud's head." She answered.

"Okay… we're still dreaming, Tifa punch me, we need to wake up."

She did punch me "Satisfied? Come on… Cloud's in pain…" I began to rub my cheek, it hurt a lot.

I stood up, and saw three Clouds. I thought I was going crazy, because this made no sense to me. One thing was for sure, we needed to find the real Cloud. I only followed Tifa, she seemed to know what to do, unlike me. The Cloud we walk to, was the one who was coming back to Nibelheim, so we went into this memory.

Once again, we were back on Nibelheim, and Tifa made sure it was _her_ Nibelheim as well. _So far, so good._ Cloud began to re-tail the same story, only this time… Tifa said the truth. The one who came back to Nibelheim wasn't Cloud. Shinra sent two SOLDIERs: Sephiroth and

"Zz..Zack." Cloud said.

This wasn't enough; Tifa went back and decided to go to another memory. It was a memory I heard Tifa and Cloud talk about, that first night I spent in the 7th Heaven Bar. It was Cloud promise to Tifa, about him joining SOLDIER… but…

"Sephiroth said, that you created your own memory, by listening to mine, but… " Tifa said.

"But that's not right, how can a person recall so much from so little? Tifa, we should try to go to another memory… if Cloud really created this memory because of you, then there shouldn't be any more memories, but if there's another memory between you two… we should at least prove that Cloud is Cloud… right?" I said while staring at the sky that was full of stars, I never seen so many stars before. This place was full of detail, this couldn't be a made up memory.

We left, and suddenly, there was a little kid with blonde spiky hair. It was Cloud as a little kid. He was talking to Tifa saying that he joined SOLDIER because he wanted people to notice him.

"Who did you wanted to notice you?" Tifa asked.

"You."

"Me! Why, I know we were close, but not THAT close. Why did you wanted me to notice you?"

"You probably forgot… but I was afraid you would hate me, it was on that day."

"What are you talking about?"

"You want to see it? Come on, follow me." Little Cloud went towards the third Cloud, and we stepped inside a window. It was Tifa's room, and she looked like she was crying, she was surrounded by three little kids.

"You were always playing with them; this was going to be the first time I was going to be in Tifa's room. I always though those three were stupid, but I was really the stupid one. You always laugh at every little thing, and I thought I was somehow different from you… " Tifa and Cloud carried on until.

"Was this a special day?" Tifa asked little Cloud.

"… this was the day when Tifa's mother died."

"_**Hey, here come Cloud! Do you want to see him?" a kid said to little Tifa.**_

"…_**I… want to see mom!" Little Tifa said, and left.**_

_**She wandered into , the two kids follow, the third run away, passing little Cloud's side. Little Cloud went running after Tifa. As they reached the bridge, the two little kids fled away, and minutes later, little Tifa missed her step. Cloud tries to catch her… but he falls after her. **_

"I only scratched my knee, but you Tifa, you hit your head. You were in a coma for 7 days, a lot of people thought you weren't going to make it. I hated myself, for my weakness, I got into fight every day, I didn't cared with whom… until I heard of Sephiroth, and that day I wanted to join SOLDIER to be able to protect you." Little Cloud explained, hence a part of Cloud was found.

We hurry to Nibelheim, five years ago. Cloud knew where to go now, he knew where to find himself and so then…

_**Inside the reactor, Tifa was wounded by Sephiroth. She felt on the stairs, seconds later, Zack entered the scene, but he was defeated by Seohiroth. I began to look for Cloud, he must be here, no one can know so much by simply hearing it from another. He must've seen it. A Shinra blue uniform soldier entered the scene, he takes Zack's sword. He quickly enters the room, and he stabs Sephiroth from behind.**_

"… _**Who… who are you?" Sephiroth asks.**_

_** "Mom… Tifa… my home… give it all back. I used to respect you, even admire you."**_

_**He steps away from Sephiroth, he takes his mask off. It was Cloud, he was there all along. He goes to Tifa, and moves her from the stairs. Suddenly, Sephiroth exits the room, along with Jenova's head in his hand. Zack begs for Cloud to stop him, but as soon as he approaches Sephiroth, he stabs Cloud with his long sword.**_

"_**Don't push your luck kid."**_

_**Cloud grabs the sword, he lifts Sephiroth and throws him down into the reactor's depths.**_

Cloud was complete, and now, everything made sense. Cloud had found himself and soon becomes complete.

"Cloud!" Tifa and I yelled.

"I… now I understand… I'm sorry, I took too long, but I know who I am…" Cloud said, the real Cloud.

"Oh Cloud you stupid yerk! You worried us to dead!"Tifa said as a "welcome back, we missed you so much".

Suddenly, there were lots of voices. It was the planet speaking, and so… we needed to leave, finally.

…

We were back at the airship, inside the conference room. _Everyone_ was here now, we were listening to Cloud.__

"Everyone… I'm sorry. I don't know what to say…"

"Don't say anything, Cloud. All you've been doing is apologizing." Red said to Cloud.

"I never was in SOLDIER. I made up the stories about what happened to me five years ago, about being in SOLDIER. I left my village looking for glory, but never made it in to SOLDIER… I was so ashamed of being so weak; then I heard this story from my friend Zack… And I created an illusion of myself made up of what I had seen in my life… And I continued to play the charade as if it were true."

"Illusion, huh? … Pretty damn strong for a 'lusion, I'd say." Barret said.

"The way Hojo made Sephiroth's clones was no different to what they do to the ones in SOLDIERs. They are all injected with Jenova's cells and so they gain strength. Only the strong survive the process, the weak people like me, just… begins to be consumed by illusions…"

"Hence the reason why you were so confused with reality." I said. "I guess you borrow Zack's memories because your body couldn't take the Jenova's cells, but now you can, because you're strong."

"Well, that explains a lot, but what now?" Barret asked.

"It's my fault Meteor is heading this way… so I'm going to stop it, no matter what."

"So, you're not leaving?" Red asked.

"No, just like Barret said…" Cloud smiled.

"You mean… "Barret began.

"THERE'S NO GETTING OFF THIS TRAIN WE'RE ON!"Cloud, Barret and Tifa said and we all hurried towards the bridge. It was time to plan our next move, get the Huge Materia and stop Meteor and Sephiroth for good. We were back on track now, and this time, no one was going to stop us.

… … …

_One more chapters to go, and it's all over. Thanks for reading and awaiting your REVIEW _


	27. Chapter 27:The End

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 27: The End

We have accomplished so much in such a short time. We have collected the Huge Materias, we have stopped Weapon from attacking Midgar and even defeated the other Weapons later on. We also found out that Hojo is actually Sephiroth's father (Yup, that finished freaking me out completely… no wonder Sephiroth has problems). We even found a cave, and in it, Lucrecia (Sephiroth's _real_ mother). Vincent had a rough time with her, and we left the two of them together and later on she mysteriously disappeared. We even found out Aeris's true plans. She had it all figured out, she was planning to use that "Good-for-Absolutely-Nothing- Materia" like she liked to call it… which it was actually the _White_ Materia. She was summoning Holy to stop Meteor, but Sephiroth was interfering with it. He had to be stop, for good. Cloud had lead even better than ever, and in a way, stronger than ever before. Now, we had one goal… one objective… one final mission: Defeat Sephiroth.

"How long will it take for Meteor to fall?" Cloud asked out of the blue just when we were heading to the Northern Caverns.

"Grandfather calculated seven days." Red answered.

"Then we got seven days to summon Holy… Red? Do you want to see everyone in Cosmo Canyon?" Cloud asked looking directly at Red's eyes. He even surprised me.

"… Yes." Red said turning away.

"Barret? Do you want to see Marlene?"

"Don't even ask that!"

"Go and see her… " Cloud said ignoring Barret's command. "I want everyone and go to see those whom you care about, that that's important to you… "Cloud said looking at every one of us.

"Man, what's that all about, you're giving up before the battle even starts?" Cid said getting uncomfortable all of the sudden.

"No, I just want everyone to find your reason to fight, because… you can't fight without one, right? So then, I want everyone to find it, and concentrate on that." Cloud continued. "To save the planet… sure, that's the main reason, but… I'm just fighting to settle the score with Sephiroth, saving the planet just happen to be part of it."

"Nobody, might come back, you know!" Cid argued.

"I won't hold it against you… if you feel like coming back that'll be great, but if you don't have a reason to come back, then don't. So be sure to find that reason, before you come back."

Just like that… we landed the airship, and one by one left. It was just Cloud, Tifa and I. He just went up to me and he put his hand on my shoulder.

"You're not going to see your family... or friends?" I looked away, I already had my reasons all figured out. They were plenty, and they were all true.

"I already have my reasons to fight, I know what I am doing… for a long time, I know for sure why I'm doing anything at all. I have my reasons clear… and they can't possibly get stronger… I have my friends to protect, I have lives with future to save, even if I don't know them, I have a clear goal of what am I going to do right after we take down Sephiroth, and after all of this is over and this planet is safe… I can and will go back home. I don't _want_ and _can't_ go now."

Cloud just shared a smile with me "Alright, I understand… "He put his hand on my head and messed up my hair like you would do with a little sibling. "Tifa, how about you?"

…

Cloud and Tifa left the airship and stayed in front of it, they were going to wait for the others even though they might not come back. The two of them… they look like a couple and they obviously had a lot to talk about. They stayed together, Cloud promised he would protect her. I didn't dare to interrupt, so I just stayed inside the airship by myself, thinking about a lot of things.

_ A lot has happened, a lot has changed. I done so much, I accomplished so much and though I gained so much as well, I also lost a lot. _I laughed at the memories of us together, how we all met. Cid is the one that has greatly inspired me the most. I learn how to fly airplanes and even the airship itself. I even went into outer space… _I sincerely though I was going to die, ironically of all the dangers I had face, I had to suffer a panic attack just because I went into outer space. Cid was so mean to me during the whole trip. He even called me names I shouldn't repeat. Vincent… such a mysterious guy, but even though he acts cold… he really does care for his friends. Yuffie… such a crazy girl. Even though you're still thinking about stealing our materia, you have such a big heart that almost matches your ego. Red… simply adorable. You're wise for you age… sort of… and yet so childish. Strong and with such a powerful sense of protection, you're like a teddy bear, cute, and just like when a little girl hugs one, she feels safe. Cait Sith… the spy, I always thought that spies were suppose to be tall, handsome and strong; yet you're small, cute and smart… I wish I could meet you in person… but for now you'll have to do, you're a great person even though your fortune telling techniques sucks! I mean, blue is you're lucky color? _I must've looked crazy since I was laughing by myself a lot… _Barret… Tifa… Cloud… I will never forget you... Not anyone, not ever. And Aeris… thank you, for everything. _

…

I went outside to gather Tifa and Cloud and check if anyone was back yet, but as soon as I got up deck. Barret, Cait Sith, Cid and Red went towards me and hushed me.

"What's going on?" I whispered while being pushed by them back into the airship.

"Tifa and Cloud are having alone time, might as well let them be while they decide to come back into the airship." Cid was laughing.

"O-oh ok then." I said.

While everyone was starting the airship, Cloud and Tifa burst in, they were both happy to see almost everyone. Vincent appeared almost out of nowhere, and Yuffie somehow was hanging up somewhere and dropped on us. The whole team was back, everyone was ready to fight for what they believe. Everyone was happy, and they weren't going to let Aeris's sacrifice go to waste. Now final destination… Northern Cavern.

…

Deep inside the Northern Cavern, was filled with powerful monsters. The place was like a labyrinth, so many entrances to take. Neither of us was sure which one to take, or where they lead. Cloud said that it was best to split up, and so we did. I went with Vincent, _Ke Zhan_ in hand and ready to take on anything… even Sephiroth himself. My heart was pounding against my chest, but I wasn't scared. A few monsters appeared, but nothing Vincent and I couldn't handle. Slowly, and step by step, we were descending. It felt like we were heading into the very core of the planet, it felt strange and finally… we encountered everyone.

We could all hear the voice of the planet, and Sephiroth appeared. We were suddenly falling, right into the very core of the planet, it was all darkness, it was all emptiness. I wondered how long we would keep falling, just then. We all saw a bright light; we knew that it was Holy resonating. We had strength to fight, and a part of Sephiroth_a monster_appeared and the battle began.

It wasn't easy… heck, the monster was extremely powerful. It did great damage to all of us, but we kept pushing it to the limit until we took it down. It felt like hours, we needed to attack all at once. For a short moment, I thought we had won. I was wrong, Sephiroth descended from out of nowhere, and it pushed Red, Yuffie and Cait Sith out of the way. Sephiroth lunged at me, I didn't dodged it, I didn't run, I wasn't scared. I blocked it, and just like Yuffie taught me at Wutai, I locked our swords together while yelling at Cloud to take his chance. He did, but Sephiroth pushed me backwards sending some sort of light that made a huge cut around my waist. It took me down, I was sure my life was going to end there, but Tifa moved me out of the way. Barret, Vincent and Cloud were handling Sephiroth now, and minutes later, they took Sephiroth down. The place started to shake immediately, and we all begun to climb back up in a hurry. As we climb, I wondered if it was over.

We were almost at the top, when I heard Sephiroth's voice calling in for Cloud. Cloud suddenly felt back in. I let a shriek escape my lips, and I broke from Tifa's aid as she was helping me climb. I was about to jump after Cloud, but Vincent stopped me.

"Cynthia, you're badly hurt and Cloud needs to settle the score with Sephiroth… we need to wait for him, he'll defeat Sephiroth" the pain Sephiroth made around my waist begged me to sit back down, and I just nodded.

My heart was pounding hard. It was the longest 2 minutes in my life when Cloud had finally emerged with a victorious smile. It was over… Sephiroth has finally been defeated.

…

Meteor was minutes away before impact. We were all on the airship, watching as Meteor got closer and closer. I was shaking with fear and praying that Holy would finally react. I heard Barret said that it was finally over.

"No, it's not over. The Planet… look." Cloud said, and I saw it. It was Holy… the Planet was summoning the lifestream to guard itself. I saw it all happened; it was an unbelievable and overwhelming sight. It was over for sure now. As the ship was being landed, I felt a light appeared from behind me, it was that same light I saw when I felt into the lifestream with Tifa and Cloud. It was the door, that was going to take me back home. The game has come to an end. I could see everyone's smile, satisfied that it was over.

Now everyone was shocked to see the light, even Vincent composure faded. Yuffie suddenly asked "What was up with the strange light?"

"It's my way back home." I said certain. Everyone turned to look at me surprised. I thought I would be happier. I was actually thinking of staying, but it was wrong to stay. I had to back from where I came from. The hardest choice I had ever made, I think. I turned to look at everyone's faces. "It's time for me to go home." I said, my tears dropping while I forced smile. I hugged everyone there, not wanting to let them go.

"Do you really have to go?" Yuffie asked, sounding unlike her.

"Yes… I have to. Don't worry… I don't know when, but… but… I'll come back and visit" I made my hands make a fist and began to run into the light afraid I was going to change my mind. "Good-bye everyone, I'll miss you!" I said disappearing into the light, uncertain if they heard my last words.

I was falling in light, unlike the first time I was falling, this one felt like it was drifting me up, until I felt asleep. I woke up at the sound of my brother's voice. It suddenly felt foreign to me.

"Cynthia, have you see my phone, I forgot it_" he stared at me as if I was an alien that replaced her little sister. "What the heck happened to you? How did you changed so fast? What happened to your hair?" he blurted out a bunch of question all at once and I annoyed him when I answered with yet another question. "What do you mean how long you were gone? I was gone for two minutes!... Is that a sword? Where the heck did you get that?" I never see my brother lose composure in all my life and here he was freaking out. What could I do… I began to laugh like if he had told me the joke of the year. I immediately turned to look at the T. V's screen and by it… was a small glowing green ball that fit perfectly in my hand. I had taken a materia with me, and I knew, somehow, someday, I would be back.

…. ….. ….. … …

_ Well, this is the end. I hope everyone liked it. Thanks for reading. And to answer someone's question. Cynthia could hear Sephiroth's thought or voice like Cloud because she doesn't belong in Final Fantasy VII's world, therefore she has no restrictions and can be attune with the characters. Well, thanks for reading, leave your REVIEWS! ^,^ _


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